


One Hour at a Time

by tsuki_llama



Series: Distractions [1]
Category: Darker Than Black
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-31
Updated: 2015-09-29
Packaged: 2018-04-18 09:05:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 30,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4700198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsuki_llama/pseuds/tsuki_llama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hei's team is after an elusive Contractor - but so is Section 4. When Hei's alias is targeted, will his cover survive Misaki's scrutiny, or will she finally discover the identity of the Black Reaper? Eventual Hei/Misaki</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"It's confirmed," Ootsuka's voice crackled over the radio. "BK-201 is showing signs of activity. We can't pinpoint his location yet, but it's in the same area where the man in the mask sightings were reported."

"Understood. I'm almost in position." Kirihara Misaki threaded her Porsche smoothly through the Tokyo traffic, sparse at this time of the night. "Kouno, Saitou," she said into the radio, "have you seen any sign of him?"

"Nothing yet, Chief."

Kirihara switched off her headlights, then turned down an alley and braked, letting the engine idle as she drummed her fingers on the steering wheel and stared into the darkness between the buildings. He could be lurking in one of those shadows…or maybe they'd gotten here ahead of him? Scattered reports had come in over the general police broadband of a masked man seen chasing – or fighting, the reports differed – a man in a business suit (or overcoat, depending on who you asked), along a route that, if the reports were at least halfway accurate, should take him to this location. His star was still intermittently active, so he hadn't gone to ground yet. Would tonight be the night they finally caught the notorious Black Reaper?

The radio crackled again. "Chief!" It was Ootsuka again.

"What is it? Have you located him?"

"No. But another star has just activated: KV-464."

Her heart skipped a beat. "Where?"

"It was too brief to even narrow down."

"Damn it," Kirihara muttered to herself. She wanted to catch KV-464 almost as much as she wanted BK-201. More, maybe. As far as she could tell, BK-201 at least left civilians alone, though whether by design or accident she didn't know. KV-464, on the other hand, had killed at least three innocents in the short week he'd been active in Tokyo. That wasn't even counting the stars that had fallen by his hand.

"Chief!" crackled the radio. Saitou this time.

"What is it?"

"BK-201, headed south on Hitsugaya street, towards your location."

"Roger, pro-" _Thud!_

Kirihara dropped the radio in surprise as something landed heavily on the roof of her car. She caught movement in her rearview mirror – a shadowy shape rolled off the car's back end and ran towards the entrance to the alley, coat black against the glow of the streetlamps. BK-201! Ignoring the concerned noises coming from the radio, she slammed the gear shift into reverse, speeding out of the alley onto the empty street. BK-201 had turned the corner, heading south onto Hitsugaya. Wait, hadn't Saitou said…she glanced to the north as her car cleared the alley, and gasped. BK-201's mask was just inches from her window – and then was gone. She slammed on the brakes, tires screeching. Another thud, softer this time, from the car roof, and then she saw the Black Reaper land gracefully on the other side of her car, roll, and leap back to his feet to dart down the next alley without a backward glance. _Damn it!_

Without bothering to kill the engine, Kirihara pulled her gun from her purse and jumped out of the car to follow on foot. Heart pounding, she turned the corner of the alley, gun first – and ran smack into Saitou. She landed with an _oof_ on the ground.

"Chief!" Saitou gasped, reaching down to help her up.

"Did you see which way they went?" Kirihara asked, as her lieutenant pulled her to her feet.

Saitou shook his head. "What do you mean they? I turned down this alley to try and cut BK-201 off. I lost sight of him right after I radioed you – was there someone else?"

Kirihara ground her teeth in frustration. "How does he always disappear like that? He was chasing someone in a long coat. They've got to still be around here somewhere."

"Chasing?"

She nodded. "I didn't get a good look at who it was – possibly the man in the business suit that the first reports mentioned. I lost sight of him when I nearly ran over BK-201."

"You what?"

"Never mind. Let's check in with Kouno."

He was already on the radio. "Chief, you're going to want to see this."

-\/-

Hei crouched on a narrow window ledge above the alley, watching as Chief Kirihara and Saitou exited the alley and returned to her car. He was well hidden in the shadows, but even so, neither of them thought to look up. They never did. Huang's gruff voice sounded in his earpiece. "What's the status, Hei?"

"I lost him."

"How the hell did you do that?"

"Ran into the police." Almost literally; he rubbed his wrist where he had twisted it vaulting off Kirihara's car when she had come flying out of the alley right in front of him. Thank goodness for good reflexes. Huang wouldn't care about excuses though, so he continued with, "Was Yin able to track him?"

"Negative," came her soft monotone.

"Useless, the both of you. Whatever – police chatter on the radio is getting interesting, sounds like that area's going to be hot for a while. Best we pack it in and try again tomorrow."

"Understood." Hei deposited the earpiece in his coat pocket, and headed for the roof, hands finding crevices and toeholds in the side of the building easily. He ignored the pain in his wrist. He was relieved by the order. These constant almost-run-ins with Section 4 and Chief Kirihara were becoming aggravating. How on earth had she managed to get here ahead of him? Coincidence? Or was she after KV-464 too? This particular target _was_ proving to be more challenging than most, leading him on a merry chase through the city streets, sometimes in plain sight of witnesses.

But Kirihara…she was starting to make his job difficult. If she became too much of an obstacle…he didn't like to think of that. He wished he'd never run into her as Li, gotten to know her a bit. She was a good person, a good cop, and far too clever by half. He wouldn't like it if he had to kill her.

His life was so much easier when he didn't have any sort of attachment to humans. _Or contractors_ , he added. Attachments were born out of emotion, and emotion made you vulnerable, and vulnerability made you dead. He had to survive at least long enough to find out what had happened to his sister. She might still be out there, somewhere, and if she was, she would need him. _What was that about attachments being dangerous?_ He ignored the inner voice that was trying to point out the irony of his thoughts. It didn't matter. Despite a sharp twinge in his wrist, he pulled himself over the edge of the roof and headed back towards one of their safe houses to deposit his gear. Hei pushed the cop from his mind. Nothing mattered but surviving, one night at a time.

-\/-

"Well, I think we can confirm that it was indeed KV-464 that was responsible for those deaths," Kirihara sighed as she adjusted her glasses to get a better look at the corpse on the ground. "The timing of his star's activity matches perfectly with this one." She looked up, and added sharply, "I thought I gave clear instructions that all uniformed officers were to keep their distance?"

"Officer Yagami," Saitou said, reading the name on the dead man's uniform. "Dispatch says he called in his intent to apprehend the masked man before that order came through."

Kouno trotted up. "Hazmat is on their way."

"Do we really need them? The others were confirmed non-contagious," Saitou said.

"You want to touch him? Better safe than sorry, I say."

"Quiet, you two." Kirihara could feel the furrow forming in her brow, but she ignored it. It helped her think. An officer dead, on her watch – she would mourn later. Right now, she needed to focus on catching KV-464.

"We'll get him Chief," Saitou said, as if sensing her thoughts.

"We may not even need to," Kouno pointed out. "If BK-201's after him too…"

"I want them both!" she snapped. "It's _our_ responsibility to protect the city from contractors, not to let them wipe themselves out, and catch innocent people in the crossfire." She looked down at the body. It looked just like the other victims of KV-464: swollen extremities, a purple-tinged face. It had been less than an hour since KV-464 had passed through here, yet from the looks of the corpse, it could have been a week. He must have gotten a stronger dose than the others…maybe because he was just an obstacle in KV-464's path, and the contractor had no need to hide his actions, as with the first victims?

"Another one?"

Kirihara turned to see four white-suited figures approaching. The Hazmat team. She nodded to the leader, then turned and headed back to her car, Saitou and Kouno falling in behind her. "Go home and get some sleep," she told them. "We'll continue the investigation tomorrow."

"Whoa, what happened?" Kouno asked, looking at her beloved blue Porsche.

"What do you mean?" But then she saw. Two dents in the roof, as if from two heels landing on it. " _Damn it!_ "


	2. Chapter 2

"The higher-ups have confirmed that our man is KV-464," Huang said into his newspaper, cigarette smoke wreathing his head. He was sitting on the bench next to Hei, but far enough that from a distance they didn't appear to have anything to do with each other. To anyone passing by, they would look like strangers who had just happened to stop off in the same park this morning.

"Based on the dead cop?" Mao was perched on top of the slide, grooming his tail and taking advantage of the sunny day to convince the chance observer that he was a perfectly normally cat – provided they didn't get close enough to overhear him talking.

It should have been strange talking about such things on a bright day like this, in a children's playground, but Hei had long gotten used to it. He flexed his wrist. No pain or loss of movement. He must not have sprained it as badly as he thought. Then again, he seemed to heal more rapidly since he'd become a contractor.

Huang grunted. "We know KV-464 causes some kind of disease that kills his victims – that's what did for the Syndicate's civvies. But the deaths can be slow, or fast like the cop."

"Any idea how the victims contract the disease? Is it airborne? Does it require eye contact, like hijackers? And more importantly, does it affect cats?"

"Physical touch," Hei said before Huang could rebuke Mao. His voice startled both his team members; it was the first time he'd spoken up all morning.

"What makes you say that?" Mao asked, looking up from his grooming.

Hei considered before answering, staring off at a pair of women pushing their strollers quickly down the street. Parents always seemed to avoid this park when Huang was here, for some reason.

"Well?" Huang growled, impatient.

"The cop he killed last night – KV-464 pushed him down as he ran by."

"That doesn't necessarily – "

Hei continued as if the cat had never spoken. "He doesn't carry a gun, and I haven't seen him use a knife or other weapon. That suggests that he relies on his ability, like most contractors. But he's fast, prefers to run rather than stand his ground, and is well-versed in hand-to-hand fighting; he managed to dodge my blades the one time I got close enough to use them. To be that skilled means that his ability doesn't work long-range. He has to be close to use it, so he has to be good enough to get that close to an opponent – but he didn't use it on me, because he never managed to touch me. He had to stay out of reach of my knives."

"Hm, makes sense." Mao pondered, settling his head on his paws. "Guess that means we'll have to shoot him."

"We?" Huang snorted. "Last I checked, Hei's the only contractor on this team that can hold a gun – and no way in hell am I getting anywhere near that freak."

"You know what I mean. And you wouldn't have to get near him, that's my point. We track him down and take him out from a distance. Even you could manage that."

"Has Yin found him yet?" Hei interrupted the bickering before it could get any worse. The familiarity of it rankled. Their team had been together several months now, and it was starting to feel comfortable. That worried him.

"Not yet," Mao said. Yin wasn't at the meeting; she'd been left in the tobacco shop to scan the city for their target.

"If those damn police hadn't interfered, we'd have had him last night," Huang grumbled.

"We?" Mao mocked. "Seems to me Hei and I were the only ones doing any work out there, I almost got my tail broken –"

"Listen, cat…"

Hei didn't hear the rest of Huang's threat; he was halfway across the park, heading home and to bed. It had been a tiring night, and no doubt he'd be hunting down KV-464 again soon.

-\/-

"It looks almost like a handprint." Kirihara stared down at Officer Yagami's chest. Five black splotches that could have been fingerprints lay right below his collarbone, as if someone had shoved the officer while running past. The medical examiner, Dr. Kurosaki, had confirmed minor bruises on his hands and back, as if from a fall. Kurosaki nodded. Only his eyes were visible among the protective gear he wore head to foot, and that only because his safety glasses were clear and untinted. Kirihara knew she must look as ridiculous, but those were the regulations.

"The size and spacing do suggest the fingerprints of an average-sized man," the medical examiner was saying, "or a slightly larger-than-average woman. However, they aren't actual prints, like from ink. They're places where the flesh has mortified. And do you see this?" He used a scalpel to point out twisted tracks of black that spidered out across the dead man's chest. "I think these veins were the conduit for the poison, which originated in the fingerprints, or whatever they are. Like a snakebite, having the source of the toxin so close to the heart means that the poison would have spread rapidly, thus contributing to the officer's sudden death."

The smell of formaldehyde was starting make Kirihara feel a little woozy, but she forced herself to concentrate. "So Officer Yagami was in KV-464's path…KV-464 activated his ability and pushed the officer down, and where he touched him, he infected him with the toxin, which then spread to the rest of his body. It makes sense. But there weren't any marks on Yagami's uniform. How did the toxin get through to his skin?"

Kurosaki shrugged. "I sent samples to the laboratory. Hopefully we'll know more in a few days."

"A few days?" Kirihara suppressed a sigh. She knew they were working as fast as they could.

"The problem is with the samples. Whatever this pathogen is, it decays living tissue so fast that there's not much left to analyze."

Kirihara frowned, hoping Kurosaki couldn't see her expression behind her mask. "I can understand that the dead contractors and Yagami weren't…fresh…enough, but what about the patients from the hospital?"

"Most of the samples taken from the two live patients were used up by the hospital lab. By the time Pandora's scientists were brought in, there wasn't enough left for the tests they needed to run. And of course, the patients themselves had passed on by then."

"Alright. Please let me know if you find anything new."

She exited the morgue, depositing the paper smock, hair net, mask, booties, and gloves in the trash can where Saitou stood sentinel. She took a deep breath of air that only smelled like antiseptic instead of antiseptic plus formalin. "You're going to have to go into the morgue one of these days," she said as they turned down the hall to exit the building. "You see dead bodies on the street all the time, they don't bother you then."

Saitou turned a funny shade of green. "It's different in there."

Kirihara let the sigh escape this time. "Any updates?"

Her lieutenant shook his head. "Matsumoto and Kouno are still working on the connection between the civilians who were killed by KV-464. Because their deaths were so much slower than the other contractors or Yagami, KV-464 must have wanted to hide them, or at least prevent us from making any immediate connection."

"Right. Though I'm not sure I'd call a day much slower than an hour."

The dead contractors – and Yagami – had been found within minutes of their deaths, thanks to Astronomics' doll network. The civilians were another story. A banker had gone to be early, complaining of the flu; the next morning his wife found him dead in their bed, face blue. EMTs guessed he'd died of asphyxiation, though the coroner was unable to determine the cause. Another man, a security loans officer for a different bank, had taken two days to die. He'd checked himself into the hospital the second day, when the convulsions started – but it was too late. He died shortly after arrival, choking and purple-faced.

The third victim, a young IT specialist, had already been in the hospital for three days when the loans officer was admitted. The doctors on staff were baffled by her symptoms. It seemed to be the flu: she had a fever, aches, and couldn't keep down any food. However, she didn't respond to any intervention, and only got worse, until she passed away almost at the same time as the loans officer after a series of nasty convulsions and a constriction of the throat that even intubation hadn't eased. The same doctor had been assigned both cases; he recognized the same symptoms, and immediately called for a quarantine on the hospital, fearing some new epidemic. But so far, no one on staff and no one from the patients' families presented with the symptoms, and there was no common linkage between the patients. No one could even tell when the disease had been contracted. Did it incubate for days, or months, before burning through the patients like a wildfire?

The doctor in charge of the mysterious cases phoned every other hospital in the country, trying to track down similar cases. He found one, right here in Tokyo – the banker who'd been found dead in bed, taken to another hospital for autopsy. He also called his old friend Kurosaki, who was now working for the police as medical examiner. Kurosaki recognized the description of the dead patients right away – two contractors had been found that same week, in that same condition. Section 4 lifted the quarantine on the hospital lest panic spread, and insisted that Pandora pathologists be brought in to try and identify the disease – and the contractor who was spreading it.

Kirihara supposed she should be glad that they could confirm Messier code KV-464 as the one responsible, but they still didn't know who he was, who he was working for, or what his purpose was. The dead contractors were probably just obstacles, killed because they were in his way. No, the truth would be found with the three civilians. They weren't random victims, they'd been killed differently – slowly, to mask the fact that it was murder and not some new strain of flu. If two of the patients hadn't ended up under the charge of the same doctor, they may never have suspected the involvement of a contractor. She'd get to the bottom of it; first, they needed the results of the lab tests from Pandora, and Kouno and Matsumoto had to unearth the link between the victims.

She and Saitou stepped out into the harsh sunlight. Kirihara was still feeling slightly woozy, though whether it was from the lingering scent of the morgue on her suit or the frustration of this case she couldn't say. She hadn't gotten much sleep last night. Oh she'd gotten home in time to get several hours, but it didn't matter. The details of the case had turned over in her mind, over and over again until she could hardly think straight. She'd woken more tired than before she went to bed.

"You head back to the office," she told Saitou. "I need to clear my head for a bit." She started to get into her car, but turned back when she saw the dent on the roof. "And if you see BK-201, tell him I'm sending him the bill from the body shop!" Kirihara slammed her door shut. Saitou was still standing in the parking lot, trying to work out if she'd been joking or not. She wasn't sure herself.


	3. Chapter 3

Kirihara found herself pulling to the curb in Koto. There was a small park across the street, it would be nice to sit there and think. The wind was a bit brisk, but the sun was warm on her face. As she started to cross the street though, she noticed that the park was occupied by a black cat grooming himself on the slide and a middle-aged man smoking on the bench and reading a racing form. She thought she could smell the smoke from here, though she was sure it was just her imagination. Well, it wouldn't hurt to walk for a bit. She headed down the sidewalk, not really caring which direction she went.

As she walked, Kirihara found herself musing on BK-201. Why had he been chasing KV-464? Was he trying to kill him? If that was the case, Kouno might well be right, and they'd be finding KV-464's body tonight. She hoped not – if he died, they may never understand what he was doing here in Tokyo, or who was giving him his orders. That was more important than simply stopping him. And he might have information on BK-201 – maybe they were even from the same organization, or had some sort of connection. A contractor would always talk when his back was against the wall, and she would take any scrap of information she could get on the Black Reaper.

She sighed. This walk to clear her head was doing nothing of the sort. The more she thought, the more questions she had. She turned a corner. There was a man walking ahead of her, wearing a faded green jacket against the wind, hands in his pockets. Kirihara squinted. There was something familiar about that back. In her mind she saw BK-201's back disappearing into an alley…BK-201's back to her at a shrine…wait, she'd made this mistake before.

"Li!" The name was out of her mouth before she stopped to think. The man stopped and turned, tensing as a gust of wind kicked up. It _was_ Li. She smiled; she hadn't had much of a chance to talk to him last time she saw him, in the mall. He'd recognized her too; he looked surprised to see her, but there was a friendly smile on his face as she jogged to meet him.

"Li, hi!"

"Chief Kirihara – good to see you again. What are you doing in this neighborhood?"

"I was in the area on police business, and decided to take a break and get some air." She brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Do you live around here?"

Li gestured in the direction he'd been headed. "Just a few blocks away. I'm just heading home from work."

"So early?"

Li shrugged, hands still in his coat pocket. "Actually, for me it's late. Night shift," he explained, and turned slightly, as if to start down the road again.

"Mind if I walk with you a ways?"

"Sure," Li said, still smiling. It was disarming, that smile.

Kirihara realized she was staring; she started walking, hoping he hadn't noticed. "What kind of catering job has you working all night?" she asked.

"Not the catering company. I have a part-time job stocking shelves." He shrugged. "The hours are worse, but the pay is better."

"You're going to school, right?" She thought she remembered Saitou telling her that. Li nodded. "When do you have any time to get any studying done?"

"I manage." The smile didn't quite seem to touch his eyes. Was something bothering him? _Don't pry_ , she chided herself. _You don't know him well enough for any personal questions_. Although she wished she did. Kanami was right, he _was_ cute. It was hard not to keep stealing glances at his face as they walked. She tried to think of an innocuous question that would allow her to dig deeper, but he beat her to it.

"You said you needed a break – difficult case?"

"Oh, um, yes." The wind was teasing at her hair again. Kirihara tried to pin down a strand that kept blowing across her face. "Actually, a fellow officer was killed last night, and we still don't have any leads on his killer."

"Sorry to hear that. It must be hard, having so many of your coworkers in danger every day."

"I didn't even know him…but he was one of us, so it does still hurt. But right now I'm more angry than anything"

"I'm sure you'll catch the man who did it soon – you're very persistent," Li said.

"Thanks. I'm sure we will get him, eventually. But right now he's still out there, and probably hurting more people. It's so frustrating, feeling so helpless!" Kirihara stopped herself abruptly. She hadn't meant to bring up Officer Yagami at all, let alone start spilling her feelings to a near-stranger. But then again, Li didn't really feel like a stranger. Given the nature of their first meeting, it really felt like they were on an intimate basis already.

Li shook his head. "One day at a time, that's all you can do. And if that's too hard, just take it one hour at a time."

"Wise words." She smiled, wondering what he had to take one hour at a time. "I'm glad I bumped into you."

"Thanks, I –" Li broke off suddenly as they turned a corner, smile slipping a little as he stared down the block.

"Something wrong?" Kirihara looked down the new street. It was unremarkable, just some apartments and a lot of concrete. Then she noticed a slim, silver-haired girl standing motionless in front of one particular building, staring at them – or rather, slightly to the left of them. "Do you…know her?"

"Um." Li glanced at Kirihara, looking a little tense.

_Is this his "friend"'s girlfriend he was buying those clothes for_? she wondered, feeling absurdly jealous. The girl had noticed them now, and took a few steps toward them. She was older than Kirihara had initially thought – eighteen, maybe.

"Li." The girl said.

Li seemed to relax slightly, but was still tense around the shoulders. "What is it, Yin?"

"There are two men." The girl, Yin, had a curiously flat tone to her voice. "At the tobacco shop." She lifted an arm and pointed behind her. It seemed like an effort.

"Ah, are they back again? I'll go talk to them."

"Is there a problem?" Kirihara asked.

"It's nothing – just a couple of guys have been hanging out at the shop where Yin works. They're harmless, but they bother her."

"Stalkers, huh?" Kirihara frowned. "They shouldn't be bothering girls like that – I'll go have a talk with them."

Li's eyes widened. "Oh, you don't need to bother –"

"However threatening you manage to be, Li, I think the sight of a badge will be more effective at keeping them away. Besides," she added, "stalkers are something I can deal with. I need something I can deal with right now."

"Well, alright then." Li nodded in understanding, but he didn't sound convinced.

"Were the men talking to you and harassing you, or just loitering?" Kirihara asked Yin. The girl wasn't looking at either of them, Kirihara realized; she had been staring approximately at Li's shoulder, but shifted her gaze to Kirihara's ear at the question. Was she shy?

Yin didn't answer right away, but shifted her unfocused gaze back in Li's direction. Kirihara realized the problem.

"I'm Chief Kirihara, of the Tokyo Police," she supplied. "And a friend of Li's."

Li nodded slightly, as if to confirm to Yin that she was telling the truth, but the tension hadn't left his shoulders. She wondered why.

"Last time, they were just standing across the street," Li prompted when Yin still didn't answer. He was looking at her intently, as if trying to figure something out.

"They asked for Red Apple," Yin said, still with no inflection in her voice. "Then they went and stood by the telephone pole on the corner. They won't leave."

"Did they follow you here?" Kirihara asked.

"I went out the back."

"Good, then they'll probably still be there, if they didn't see you leave. Let's go have a chat with them."

Yin silently turned and led the way down the street, Li falling into step with Kirihara. "They might have taken off," he said. "Last time Yin came to find me, they were gone by them we got back."

"If they didn't see her leave, they'll still be there." She wanted them to still be there, she realized. KV-464 was out of her reach at the moment, but a couple of delinquent stalkers would be a good remedy for the helplessness that was plaguing her this morning.

The tobacco shop was only a block away. Kirihara found herself grateful that the walk wasn't any longer. Li had a mildly concerned expression on his face, yet as she walked beside him she had the uncomfortable feeling of walking beside a panther that had the scent of an intruder in his territory. Maybe this KV-464 business just had her unnerved.

Yin turned down an alley, and Kirihara started to follow, but jumped when Li gently took her elbow and said, "This way." He didn't seem to have noticed her reaction, thankfully. He led her across the street.

Yin must have headed towards the back entrance, Kirihara realized. They were across the street from the tobacco store front. "There." She pointed with her chin so as not to alert the stalkers that they'd been noticed. Two teenage boys in school uniforms leaned against a telephone pole near the shop, smoking and stealing what they probably thought were furtive glances towards the shop window. There was nothing threatening about them whatsoever, but she could understand why Yin, a young girl working alone, would be uncomfortable. When Yin appeared in the window, the tall boy nudged the shorter one; both boys straightened up, but didn't move from their post.

"You're right," Li said. She smiled at the surprise in his voice.

"I told you they'd still be there. You wait here, I'll go deal with them." She didn't wait for a response, but strode purposefully across the street and up to the boys. The tall one ignored her, but the shorter one gave her a slow, appraising look, and blew a stream of smoke at her. She wanted to smack him.

"Isn't school still in session?" Kirihara said sharply.

"Sure," the short one drawled, still looking at her insolently. "Whadda you care?"

Kirihara flipped open her police ID. "Truancy is illegal. I could call a squad car and have you escorted back to class." Both boys grinned. They would love that sort of notoriety, she could tell. "But stalking is illegal as well, and punishable by jail time."

"Wha – stalking?" said tall boy, cigarette falling from his mouth. "We weren't stalking anyone!"

"Jail?" said the other one worriedly.

"You've been loitering around this corner, bothering the girl here. If she wants to press charges you're looking at a heavy sentence." Kirihara put a sterner edge on her voice. "The city of Tokyo frowns on perverts like you. I know a judge who's been looking for someone to make an example of."

The short boy shook his head emphatically. "I'm not a pervert, Daisuke dared me to go talk to her, he's the one been staring!"

"That's not true, Sasuke thought she was pretty, and –"

"Quiet!" Kirihara snapped. She crossed her arms. "I'll give you this one warning. Get back to school and stay away from this girl, and no charges will be filed. But I'm still giving your descriptions to patrol officers, so they can keep a close eye on you."

The boys tripped over themselves promising to be on their best behavior for the rest of their lives, and ran as soon as she allowed. She smiled to herself. These years dealing with contractors made teenage boys almost too easy.

"I thought the short one was going to wet himself." Li's voice behind her made her jump. "Saitou was right - you're pretty terrifying when you want to be." She turned to see him smiling, not a trace of his former tension left. Maybe she'd imagined it. _Or just worried about Yin, I guess…how close are they_? She mentally scolded herself for that last thought. _Not your business, Misaki_.

"He would've deserved it," she said. "Wait, what did Saitou say?"

Li smiled wider. "Don't worry, nothing that wasn't a compliment."

"Well I hope not." Kirihara made a mental note to tell Saitou off for talking about her with a stranger – but a part of her, a childish part of her, was pleased that Li was impressed. She turned to the tobacco shop window.

"I don't think they'll be bothering you again, Yin, but if they do, you can give me a call."

"Thank you," the girl said, still in that emotionless voice, staring down at the counter.

Kirihara fished around in her purse for her wallet and a pen. "Regular patrol won't be able to do much, so I'll give you my cell." She wrote out the number on the back of one of her business cards and held it out for Yin, who didn't move. It was Li who took the card.

"I'll read it to her, she has a good memory," he said. At Kirihara's blank look, he explained, "Yin is mostly blind. She can see vague outlines of people, sometimes, if the light is good, but she can't read."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I had no idea." That explained her lack facial expression, and her avoidance of eye contact. Hard to make eye contact if you couldn't see someone's eyes.

"It's alright," Yin said.

"Thanks for helping," Li said, smiling and still holding the card with her number. Kirihara felt her cheeks start to redden.

"I'm glad I could help. I'd better get back to work – Yin, please don't be afraid to call me if you need help again."

Yin nodded once, eyes still on the wooden counter of the window. Li bowed his goodbye, so formal – and Kirihara turned and headed back to her car, debating whether or not to tell Kanami she had accidentally given her phone number to a cute guy.

-V-

Hei watched as Chief Kirihara disappeared around the corner, then he ducked through the window and into the tobacco shop. He leaned against the wall and looked at Yin.

"I was worried you were going to start calling me Hei in front of Kirihara."

She didn't answer. He hadn't expected her to. He also wouldn't have expected her to come looking for him because of a pair of pathetic, would-be stalkers. "Were there orders from Huang?"

Yin shook her head.

"Did you locate the target?" Another shake. "Then why were you looking for me?"

Yin was silent a moment, then said, "They wouldn't go away."

"Those boys?" Hei didn't understand. She was still facing the window; all he could see of her face was her profile, eyes on the countertop. Emotionless as always…at least on the outside. "Were you afraid of them?"

A single, hesitant nod.

Hei didn't understand what was going on with her. These little acts of independence, making decisions on her own, decisions based on emotion…he'd never heard of a doll acting like this. She hadn't been like this when they'd first met, on their first job together. She was becoming a liability. Approaching him with Kirihara there could have blown his entire cover.

He looked at the business card in his hand. "Next time, just send a specter. And be careful around Chief Kirihara – she's Li's friend, but she's not mine, and she's not yours."

"She is your friend." Yin's voice was almost too soft to hear.

Hei narrowed his eyes. "If she finds out who I am, she'll try and arrest me. I'll have to leave Tokyo, and you'll be assigned to a new contractor team. We won't be partners anymore. Do you understand?" _And when your new team finds out you're broken, they'll wipe your mind and reprogram you, and you'll lose your new emotions, you'll lose yourself, and you'll forget me, and I don't want that_. But he didn't say any of that. Why should he? Yin was just a doll, there was no reason for him to care what happened to her beyond the effect it might have on his ability to do his job.

Yin nodded. "I understand."

And Hei thought of those two boys, hanging around the shop and making her nervous. Too bad Kirihara had been there, they would have run a lot faster if he'd been the one to have a "talk" with them…

A soft jingling interrupted Hei's thoughts and announced the arrival of Mao.

"Ah, there you are, Hei – I looked for you in your apartment, but you weren't there."

"I'm here."

"Obviously. I saw that police women down the street – probably best if she doesn't run into you."

"Agreed." Hei still had her business card in his hand; he slipped it into his pocket before Mao saw it. _Probably best Mao and Huang don't know she_ did _run into me_.

Mao jumped down from the windowsill to sit in front of Hei. "Word from the higher-ups. They caught a mole, someone in the organization who's been leaking the names of low-level Syndicate members to KV-464. They don't know exactly how many names have been leaked though, or which ones KV-464 hasn't gotten to yet."

"They didn't break the mole?"

"Ah, apparently the Syndicate's questioners were a little too enthusiastic, and broke him a little too well, before they could get all the answers they wanted. Anyway, we're to lay low until we have a line on him. Our names could have been on that list, after all."

"Understood." Hei stifled a yawn. It would be nice to have a night off; he still hadn't had a chance to sleep since the chase after KV-464 last night.

"That doesn't apply to you though, Yin. Keep looking for the target."

Yin nodded and pulled a bowl of water out from under the counter, setting it beside the cushion on which she knelt. She placed her hand in the water.

Mao left, bell jingling. Hei turned to go as well, but when he reached the back door Yin's voice stopped him.

"Those boys…they said I was pretty."

Hei looked back at her. She was still facing the street outside, one hand trailing lightly in the water by her side. The daylight streaming from the window illuminated her pale skin and shone in her silver hair.

"Hei? Am I pretty?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chasing off those two stalkers had turned out to be the highlight of Kirihara Misaki's day. No reports from the lab came in concerning Yagami or KV-464; Kouno and Matsumoto hadn't made any progress toward discovering the reason for the murders of the civilians; and the fries she'd grabbed from McDoness at lunch had been cold and too salty. The somber atmosphere at the office that always followed a fellow officer's death only depressed her more. Maybe that made her callous, or cold-hearted, but she felt that the best way to honor Yagami's death was to pour all her energy into catching his killer, not sitting around mourning.

Yet throughout the day she would catch herself glancing at her cell phone, as if she expected it to ring, and jumping every time it did. And every time she looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Saitou, or Kouno, or the body shop calling with a ridiculous quote that made her shout at the mechanic and left Ootsuka giving her worried looks the rest of the day, and not an unknown number with a Koto prefix, her disappointment grew.

_Why would he call, though?_ Kirihara thought to herself as her coworkers began to leave for the day. He was always so polite and formal, would he ever take the initiative? Did he even want to? She absently rubbed her elbow where Li had touched it. She didn't have time to be thinking about dating and relationships – not usually, and definitely not now. But she liked talking to him, and there was a quiet, hidden strength to him. He'd shown that at Alice's party. He'd been afraid, of course, but he hadn't panicked, and he'd even risked himself to bring Saitou to her. Maybe if he didn't call by tomorrow, she'd go for another walk in Koto….

"Chief?" Ootsuka broke through her reverie. "Are you staying late again tonight?"

Kirihara looked at the stack of paperwork waiting for her on her desk. She would track down Li tomorrow. Tonight, KV-464 demanded all her attention.

"Yes, I'm staying. Go ahead and lock up the rest of the office." _One hour at a time_ , she thought to herself, and pulled a report off the top of the stack.

-V-

Dusk was just beginning to fall when Hei awoke, stomach growling. He'd meant to eat something when he got home, but he'd been so tired he'd gone right to sleep instead. He walked to the kitchen, and as he began piling vegetables on the counter to fix supper, he noticed Kirihara's business card sitting on the counter, bathed in the orange glow of the setting sun. How could he have been so careless as to leave that out, where Mao could see it? He should have tossed it in the trash cans outside the building.

Hei picked up the card and turned it over. Her personal cell phone number was written on the back, numbers drawn in clear, straight strokes. The handwriting of a no-nonsense personality. He almost smiled, remembering the way she'd handled the two boys that morning – they would be stepping cautiously around the police for a long, long time. Instead of tossing the card into his small trash can, Hei found himself opening the kitchen drawer and dropping it inside. But before he could question what he doing, he noticed the other thing in that drawer, and his almost-smile was gone even quicker than it had appeared.

_Amber_. He'd neither seen nor heard a trace of her since that night at the shrine. It was almost as if he'd dreamed her – only the fresh scar on his leg where Huang had shot him, to keep away from her, assured him that she really was here in Tokyo. Here, with whatever she knew of Pai's disappearance.

Hei finished his supper, cleaned up the dishes, then put on his green jacket and headed out into the night.

-V-

The Black Reaper stood before her, expression hidden beneath his white mask. But Kirihara knew that if she were to remove that mask, she'd be staring to a face just as blank and inhuman. His eyes, his eyes though, they burned with a cold fire that told her she wouldn't be getting out of this alive.

But she had to try. She raised her gun, pointed it directly at his chest. He didn't move, didn't say a word, but someone else drifted up to his side, a pale and silent ghost. A girl, with silver hair and a face as blank and blind as BK-201's mask.

Suddenly, Kirihara couldn't breathe. _KV-464?_ She reached up to her neck; a wire was wrapped tightly around it, and it tightened even as her fingers brushed up against it. A voice spoke low in her ear: "This is what happens to stalkers, Misaki." Li? It couldn't be… She turned her head just far enough to see his face, death's face, at her shoulder. His eyes turned red as she met them with her own. _No!_ she tried to shout, but there was no air left in her lungs, and the wire buzzed as he sent an electrical current through it…

Kirihara jerked awake at the sound of her phone buzzing. She was alone in the office, papers still strewn across her desk. _I should have gone home an hour ago_ , she thought, rubbing her temples as she glanced at the clock. _Make that three hours ago…what the hell was up with that dream?_ Her phone buzzed again. Kirihara looked at the caller ID – Kanami's work number.

She touched her throat gingerly before answering, half expecting there to be an impression left from the garrote wire. A paperclip unstuck itself from her cheek and fell to the desk. "What is it?"

"You sound like you were asleep – sorry, I thought for sure you'd still be at work," came Kanami's apologetic voice.

"I am. Is there any contractor activity?"

"Maybe, maybe not."

Kirihara frowned into the phone. "What does that mean?"

"It means we caught the barest blip of activity from KV-464, so brief it might have just been background noise from the instruments."

"But you don't think so."

A pause; Kirihara could picture her friend taking a drag from her cigarette. "No, I don't think so. And unfortunately, we didn't get any confirmation – none of our specters picked anything up."

Kirihara sighed. It was disappointing, but she was glad the phone call had woken her from that dream.

"So," Kanami continued, "did you hear from that guy today, the one you accidentally-on-purpose gave your number to?"

Kirihara had explained ten times that she hadn't intended for Li to end up with her number. "No. And I don't expect I will."

"Well you're not just going to leave it, are you? You know where he lives, right, go stop by."

"I had been thinking about it," Kirihara admitted, "but I don't think I will."

"Misaki, why not?"

"I don't know…I just…had the weirdest dream about him."

"Oh _really_!"

" _Not_ a good weird," Kirihara cut her friend off before her imagination could run away with her. "I dreamed he –" _was BK-201_ – "tried to kill me. Because I was stalking him." It sounded idiotic as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Li was the least threatening person she knew. Kanami burst out laughing on the other end of the line.

"It really wasn't funny," Kirihara muttered, but found herself starting to smile anyway.

"I'm sorry, I'm sure it was scary – but you know what it means, right?"

"That I should stop falling asleep at my desk?"

"Yes. _And_ that you're just scared of something new. Take a chance. Wait a couple days so you don't look like a stalker, if that's what you're worried about. Then go ask him out."

_Maybe I will_ , Kirihara thought as she ended the call and gathered up her things. _But first, I need to get some real sleep_.


	5. Chapter 5

Hei moved through the city like a dark ghost, sticking to the shadows more out of habit than necessity. He was dressed in his civilian clothes, just another worker coming home from the graveyard shift. He'd spent half the night at the shrine where he'd last seen Amber. There was no reason to go there, not really; she wouldn't have left behind any clues as to her purpose or her whereabouts, and she hadn't. Hei had just been feeling too restless to sit in his empty apartment thinking about the past. So he went to the empty shrine instead, and ended up spending a few hours sitting on the cold steps and gazing up at the fake star...thinking about the past. Then his stomach had growled, and he began the long walk back.

He was only a few of blocks from his apartment building when he noticed a man up ahead. The man was walking down the center of the sidewalk towards Hei, steps too quick to be heading home from work, or just out for a casual midnight stroll. He frequently turned his head from side to side, as if to check whether or not he was being followed.

What the man didn't seem to realize was that he _was_ being followed, but not from behind. Hei watched as a second man detached himself from the shadow of a building fifty yards ahead, between Hei and the first man, moving from shadow to shadow with barely a sound, on a course to intercept the quick-step man. Hei couldn't see the second man's face, but something about the way he moved niggled at the back of his mind. There was no doubt that he a professional, more than just a common mugger. It was hard to tell, but it looked like he wore a black overcoat. Was it…KV-464? Hei hadn't managed to get a clear look at the contractor's face last night.

Hei didn't have his weapons or his support team - too risky to engage someone as good as KV-464 now. He would watch the hit if that's what it was, confirm the pro's identity, and then radio Yin to track him. Except he'd left his radio in his room.

He kept as close to the pro as he dared, slipping in and out of the same shadows. Yes, the man was definitely a professional on a level with Hei himself. Hei would never get a look at the man's face from this angle though. The mouth of an alley gaped black, in between the two unknown men. That would be a good place to observe.

Hei hopped a low wall into a garden. Out of sight of both men now, he ran a twisted path through buildings and fences until he reached the alley from the other side and crept slowly towards the entrance. Quick-step was approaching, still looking over his shoulder worriedly. If Hei had been after the man himself, this would be the perfect position for an ambush. He realized belatedly that the pro must also have the same opinion, and backed away from the alley's mouth, wrapping himself in the shadow of a dumpster.

Just in time: the pro ducked into the alley, standing poised in the shadow of the building. Hei still couldn't see the man's face. He could hear rapid footsteps approaching. The shadow-man tensed, preparing to strike; both he and Hei were holding their breath.

But wait, something was wrong; too many footsteps.

"Sir! Sir!" Someone else was running up to Quick-step. "Is everything alright?"

"Fine, Officer," Quick-step replied, his voice betraying his fear. They were just steps away from the alley. If Quick-step had been Hei's target, he would have retreated and waited for another opportunity – too risky with the patrol officer there, not important enough of a hit to justify killing the officer and raising up a storm of police outrage. But the target clearly suspected someone was after him, and KV-464 had already shown that he wasn't averse to killing a cop who happened to get in his way. He was going to take them both out, now.

Even as Hei reached that conclusion, he saw a soft blue glow begin to form around the pro, who took a step toward the street. And, absurdly, Hei remembered how sad and angry Kirihara had been yesterday morning, when she told him about the officer who'd died for getting in KV-464's way, someone she didn't even know. Before he realized what he was doing, Hei stepped from the alley too.

Out on the open sidewalk now, the contractor was reaching for Quick-step and the patrol officer both. Hei had just enough time to see that the target's face was frozen in fear at the sight of a contractor about to unleash his power; the officer had his back to the alley. Then the contractor heard Hei's step behind him and turned. Hei feigned a trip and stumbled into the contractor, who reached reflexively to push him back. But Hei was expecting that and had already shifted his weight so that he fell backwards to the ground, KV-464's hand just barely brushing his sleeve.

"Hey, what –" the officer started to say, turning at the sound of Hei falling. But KV-464 had apparently decided that three opponents were too many to deal with at once. His blue glow disappeared as he let out a frustrated growl, sparing one glance for Hei sprawled on the ground, then turned and ran. Hei couldn't follow, it would be too suspicious.

Quick-step suddenly seemed to realize he hadn't been killed after all; he bolted in the other direction. The officer looked down at Hei, completely confused.

"Are you alright there?" He reached down a hand to help Hei up.

"Yeah," Hei said in his best innocent Li voice, rubbing his backside. "What was up with those two?"

"No idea." The officer reached under his hat to scratch his head. "An attempted mugging, maybe? But why'd they both run? I wonder if I should call it in…you were a witness, I should get a statement from you."

Hei noticed for the first time that the officer was young, probably just fresh out of training. "I didn't see any mugging, Officer Asano," he said, reading the man's name off his uniform.

"Well, no, I didn't either, I guess…still, I'd better get your name, just in case I have to write a report about this."

Hei gave his alias and fabricated an excuse for being out at that time of night that seemed to satisfy the officer, then headed home. He was doubly careful to check for signs of KV-464 following, used a few tricks to throw any tail off his track, and made it back to his building without incident. He rubbed at his arm where the contractor had brushed against him. Did it sting a little, or was that just his imagination? Hei didn't think KV-464 had had time to release his power, and the contact had been minimal anyway. But all the same, what the hell had he been thinking, risking himself like that for total strangers, with nothing to gain from it?

He thought about contacting Yin to have her try and trace KV-464, but the contractor was long gone by now and she deserved to have a full night's sleep for once. Despite the cool night air, Hei felt himself breaking into a sweat. He took off his jacket, but that didn't help much. He stripped off his shirt as soon as he got back to his apartment, but by now he felt as if he was boiling in his skin.

Turning on the kitchen sink, he splashed some cold water on his face. That was a little better, but not much. The shower would be better. He twisted the handle on the faucet to turn it off, but was suddenly overwhelmed with dizziness. Something was definitely wrong. He should call someone, find his radio, but the energy was rapidly draining from his body. Staggering into the bedroom, Hei collapsed onto his futon. The drip of water from the tap echoed painfully in his head. He rolled onto his back and saw the dripping water from the corner of his eye. Something about the water…

"Yin…" he managed to gasp, before darkness overcame him.


	6. Chapter 6

Kirihara's phone buzzed again just as she was pulling out of the station's parking garage. _Is KV-464 active again?_

She answered without looking at the display. "Kirihara."

But it wasn't Kanami on the other end. "Chief Kirihara," said a toneless, soft voice.

"Yin?" Kirihara asked in surprise.

"Yes." Nothing else.

"What is it? Yin?"

The reply was so long in coming that Kirihara thought the call must have been dropped. Then, "You said to call if I needed help."

"I did. Have those boys come back?" Kirihara checked the traffic behind her – none, it was the early hours of the morning – and made a U-turn, heading towards Koto.

"No. It's H-…Li."

"Li is bothering you?" Kirihara said, confused.

"No." It was impossible to tell without any inflections in her tone, but Kirihara thought Yin sounded frustrated. "He's sick. I don't know what to do."

"Ok. How sick?"

"I don't know."

"Are you there with him?"

"Outside. He doesn't have a phone."

"Is he too sick to come out and talk to me himself?"

"Yes."

"Ok. I'll be there in a few minutes. Can you wait outside for me?"

"Yes." Then, "Please."

"Don't worry Yin; I'll be there soon, and we'll get him taken care of, ok?"

"Ok." _Click_.

Kirihara frowned at her phone. What was wrong with Li that he couldn't talk to her himself? He'd seemed fine this morning. Yesterday morning, she corrected herself. _And what is Yin doing at his apartment at this hour?_ She felt a painful stab of jealousy. Well, at least she'd refrained from throwing herself at him earlier.

Kirihara pulled up to the curb in front of Li's apartment building. She spotted the peculiar girl standing next to the gate in a puddle of water, one arm at her side with her other hand clutching her own elbow. In a dark dress similar to the one she'd worn yesterday, she looked like a porcelain doll dressed up for a funeral. _Doll…?_ Kirihara dismissed the thought. Dolls didn't get worried over boys stalking them. Or call for help when a friend was ill. She fixed a friendly smile on her face as she got out of the car, before she remembered that Yin couldn't see it anyway.

"This way," Yin said, without waiting for Kirihara to announce herself. The girl led her upstairs with an ease that was startling for a blind girl. She was obviously intimately familiar with the route. They went all the way to the apartment at the end of the walk. _Number 201_ , Kirihara noticed with a shock. What a weird coincidence. She couldn't help remembering her dream: BK-201 and Li, with Yin there as well.

Yin entered the apartment without knocking, Kirihara close behind. The lights were off, but Kirihara felt around until she found the switch. "Li?" she called. "It's Kirihara…Yin said you weren't feeling well?" No answer. She flicked on the lights.

It was a small one-room apartment that could be partitioned into two spaces, with a small kitchenette near the door. The place was nearly empty - empty except for a jacket and shirt left carelessly on the floor. And Li, lying on his back across a futon that had only been half unfolded. Kirihara hurried over; Yin was right, Li did indeed look sick. He was covered in a sheen of sweat, black hair plastered to his forehead, breaths coming in shuddering gasps. Shirtless. Kirihara tried not let her gaze linger on the hipbones where the waist of his jeans rested, tight abs moving up and down with each labored breath…she swallowed hard.

"Get a grip, Misaki," she muttered to herself. She knelt beside him. "Li," she said. "Li, wake up." No response.

"Has he eaten anything lately?" Kirihara asked Yin, who'd come up to stand next to her.

"I don't know." Her voice was still completely flat and emotionless, like she didn't care what happened to Li. But Kirihara knew that couldn't be true.

"Has he thrown up at all, or has he just been like this?"

"I don't know. He was already sick when I came here. When I called you."

"Ok," Kirihara said, even though it clearly wasn't ok. "Can you get a damp cloth for his forehead? Maybe we can bring down his fever a little." She decided to try waking him up one more time, as Yin silently went to fetch the cloth. _If he were awake, he could take an aspirin or something…_ She placed her hand on his arm. "Li-" Without warning, Li's arm twisted under her hand and suddenly he had her wrist in a vice-like grip. She gasped in pain. "Li, wake up! It's Kirihara!"

His mouth was moving as if he were trying to speak, and his eyes were half open now, but he was clearly unaware of what was happening around him, unaware that he was about to break her wrist. She tried frantically to pull away, but his grip was too tight.

Then Yin's hand was on his shoulder. "No," she said softly. And Li loosened his grip, his arm falling back to the mattress. "Did he hurt you?" Yin asked, staring towards his face.

"No," Kirihara lied, rubbing her wrist tenderly. "Just, just caught me off guard is all." Why had he reacted that way? And why had Yin's touch calmed him so easily? She saw the wet towel in Yin's hand. "Maybe you should – oh god!" She felt the blood drain from her face.

"Should?" Yin asked, but Kirihara barely heard her. She was staring at Li's arm. There was a blotchy red spot, about the size of a fingerprint, on the inside of his forearm. And the veins under that blotchy spot were beginning to darken.

"KV-464!" Yin turned her head at that – it must have sounded like nonsense. Kirihara's heart hammered in her chest. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed dispatch. "This is Chief Kirihara of Section 4," she told the operator. "I need an ambulance right away. And call Dr. Kurosaki from the ME's office, have him meet us at Tokyo General with the Pandora pathologists." She gave Li's apartment address, then ended the call, clutching her phone so tightly that she could feel the Motorola logo pressing into her skin. How did Li chance to run across such a dangerous contractor? Had he been deliberately targeted?

"Hospital?"

Kirihara nodded, then remembered Yin couldn't see her. "Yes. He's pretty sick, Yin. He needs to get to the hospital as soon as possible."

Yin shook her head. "He can't. He wasn't supposed to go out tonight."

"What do you mean?"

But Yin just kept shaking her head. "He wasn't supposed to."

Kirihara frowned. The girl wasn't making any sense. Japanese probably wasn't her first language, she realized dumbly. With hair that color, Yin was probably European, or maybe American. She spoke with perfect, accentless grammar, but that didn't mean she understood everything Kirihara had said, and clearly was having trouble making herself understood.

Kirihara tried to explain the situation simply. "It doesn't matter what he was or wasn't supposed to do – I can't do anything to help him, only the doctors at the hospital can. He could die if he doesn't go."

Yin didn't respond.

"Do you want to come to the hospital with us?"

Yin gazed sightlessly at the man lying unconscious in front of her. She nodded.


	7. Chapter 7

Kirihara poured two cups of tea, then set the kettle back on the stove. "Do you like anything in your tea?" she called out to the main room. When there was no answer, she brought both cups out, setting one in front of Yin on the coffee table. Kirihara settled in next to Yin on the sofa with her own cup. God but she was exhausted. Dawn was only an hour or so off, and she hadn't had a minute of sleep, except that paltry hour or two at her desk - and that bizarre dream had robbed her of whatever rest she had gained.

She and Yin had followed the ambulance to the hospital, where Kirihara had left Yin in the waiting area for the emergency room while she met up with Dr. Kurosaki. He and the pathologists and emergency room doctors swarmed over Li. They were ecstatic to see a case in such early stages, but were not optimistic about his chances. After all, nothing had saved the others. But they were doing their best to stabilize him, and in the meantime, the Pandora specialists were able to collect the blood samples that they needed.

Reluctant as Kirihara was to leave Li's side, there was nothing she could do but get in the way, so she had returned to the waiting room. She questioned Yin about what Li had been doing before he got sick, but Yin couldn't tell her any more than she already had: she'd stopped by his apartment in the middle of the night for some unclear reason, found him unable to sit up or open his eyes, and then called Kirihara from the public phone outside, not knowing what else to do. She'd brought the wet towel with her all the way to the hospital, clutching it so tightly that water was dripping down her hand; apparently unwilling to let go since Kirihara had told her it might help, back before she'd called the ambulance. Kirihara couldn't help but smile sadly when she'd noticed.

After an hour of waiting, Yin was beginning to nod off in the hard plastic chair despite her best efforts to stay awake, and Kirihara felt like doing the same. She'd checked back in with Kurosaki, who told her that surprisingly, Li was stabilizing and looked to last at least until morning. He promised to call her immediately should anything change. Yin had at first adamantly refused to leave the hospital while Li was still there, but she finally agreed when Kirihara offered to let her sleep at her place and take her back as soon as the hospital opened for visitors the next morning.

So now they were both drinking tea on Kirihara's sofa, Kirihara in her pajamas and Yin in an old T-shirt that was big on Kirihara, and so large on Yin's small frame that she was almost drowning in it. But Kirihara couldn't sleep yet. She was afraid that if she did fall asleep, she'd miss a call from the hospital. As if there was anything she could do regardless.

"My mother put honey in tea," Yin said suddenly.

"I don't think I have any honey…would you like sugar?"

Yin shook her head, and picked up the cup with both hands. She held it without drinking.

"Does your mother live here in Tokyo, with you?" Kirihara asked. She'd come to find that Yin wasn't particularly averse to talking, but she was so shy that she didn't volunteer anything unless she was asked first.

Yin stared blankly into her cup. "She died."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. How long ago?"

Yin considered that for a moment, then said, "I'm not sure. I remember I was ten. It was before the Gate."

_She must be at least twenty then,_ Kirihara realized as she sipped her tea. _She only looks so young because she's so thin, and because of the way she dresses, like a little girl dressing up in her mother's old clothes. And how is she not sure how long ago that was?_ Yin was the strangest girl Kirihara had ever met, but the more time she spent with her, the more she liked her. There was a simplicity about her that Kirihara envied.

"I lost my mother too, when I was around that age."

Yin turned her head slightly towards Kirihara, pale eyes expressionless. "Did it make you sad?"

The question would have been outrageously rude coming from anyone else, but Kirihara sensed that Yin genuinely wanted to know, that she was looking for a human connection.

"Yes, it made me sad. It still makes me sad, but not as much now as it used to."

"You don't miss her as much?"

"No, I still her miss her – even more than at first, sometimes – but I try to focus on all the happy memories I have of her before she died instead of thinking of what I lost, and that helps. You must miss your mother too."

"I was so sad when Mother died," Yin said, looking back into her teacup. She had yet to take a sip. "I was so sad, and I cried and cried, until I forgot how to cry, and I forgot how to be sad. But I remember now." There was a tear glistening in the corner of her eye, but it didn't fall.

_She sounds like a contractor, losing her feelings…or a doll…she can't be, can she? But, I've not seen her smile once_. "Do you remember how to be happy?"

"Maybe. I'm not sure yet." She paused. "I think…if I stay around Li, I might."

Kirihara smiled. "Li is certainly a happy person. I always seem to feel better after I see him."

But Yin shook her head. "No, he's sad too. He's different from the others."

"What do you mean?"

"He brings me food sometimes. After he saw that all I have to eat is instant ramen. He says he makes too much and doesn't want to throw away the extra. That's a lie."

"Why would he lie about that?"

Yin raised her cup as if to take a sip, but put it back down instead. She was almost frowning, Kirihara thought. "He doesn't like people to know he cares."

"What? That doesn't sound like Li."

"No."

Kirihara rubbed her temples tiredly. Yin wasn't making sense again. Li wasn't like the "others"? He didn't want to appear caring? Were they talking about the same person?

"He said I was pretty," Yin said suddenly.

"Li did?"

The girl nodded. "After those boys left yesterday…I asked him if they were right, if I was pretty…and he said yes. I don't remember anyone telling me that, not after Mother…"

"Of course you're pretty – how can anyone not have told you that!" Kirihara was indignant on Yin's behalf – just what kind of life had she had the past ten years? She wanted to question Yin further, but the girl's eyes were barely open. She'd be asleep in another minute.

Kirihara took the tea cup from Yin's unresisting hands and set it on the table, then fetched a blanket. "You can sleep here on the couch," she said, spreading out the blanket and passing it to Yin. "I'll wake you when it's time to head back to the hospital."

"Thank you. For helping Li. I told him you were his friend, but he doesn't believe me." Yin held out the towel she'd brought from Li's apartment. "May I have some water?"

"What? Why wouldn't – never mind. Water? Would you like a glass?"

"Oh. Yes. That would be better."

Kirihara smiled despite her confusion. Li didn't think she was his friend? She filled a glass of water in the kitchen and brought it to Yin, who didn't take a sip but instead set it delicately on the floor beside the sofa before curling up on her side, under the blanket.

"Sleep well, Yin – I'll be right down the hall if you need me."

Yin's eyes were already closed. Kirihara watched her arm slip off the couch. As Yin's hand brushed the glass, her eyes half opened, and she shifted the glass over slightly so that she could float three fingers in the water.

_Strange…_ but Kirihara was too tired to ponder over the girl's idiosyncrasies.

"Kirihara?" Yin's voice said softly.

"You can call me Misaki, Yin. What is it?"

"Misaki…are you my friend?"

Kirihara smiled. "Of course."

"Do you think…will Li be alright?"

"I don't know, Yin. I hope so. Right now all we can do is take it one hour at time."

_I hope so_. _But hours are likely all he has left._ She walked down the hall to her bedroom, glad there was no one to see the tears forming in her eyes.


	8. Chapter 8

"Cured? Completely?"

Dr. Nakamora, the head of the Pandora team, smiled. "We don't like to use that word. But he has made a remarkably fast recovery, and there don't seem to be any complications or lingering effects."

Kirihara peered through the observation window at Li, sitting up in bed and devouring a bowl of rice. "So we got him here soon enough that you and the other doctors were able to find a treatment that worked?"

"Actually, we didn't do anything except keep him stable," the Pandora doctor admitted. "The fever or convulsions might have killed him otherwise. But he fought off the toxin on his own. Fortunately it was a low enough dose."

Kirihara felt the relief wash over her. She had been so certain Li wasn't going to make it. If he'd died because she had failed to catch KV-464, she'd never have forgiven herself. "How come the other patients couldn't fight it? I thought you told me the ones who took days to die did so because they received a low dose as well?"

"Genetic lottery," the doctor shrugged. "We all produce antibodies in our immune system, that are cobbled together from a variety of different gene sequences in response to pathogens. The most dangerous pathogens are those which we don't naturally produce antibodies against. Your friend Li here, unlike the previous patients, was lucky enough to possess the right combination of genes to be able to manufacture an antibody that served to sequester the toxin, slowing the spread of the disease throughout his system and eventually wiping it out completely." He turned to the window. "And now that he's been exposed to it, if he were to be infected again, he'd probably survive an even higher dose…"

Kirihara didn't like the way the Pandora scientist was looking at Li, like he was some sort of lab rat.

"You still have the blood samples you collected, right?"

"Right." Dr. Nakamora returned his attention to her. "Dr. Kandaswami was able to isolate the antibodies from the serum – it's not as good as having the pathogen itself, but we may be able to develop an antiserum from it."

"And you could use the antiserum to treat other people who come into contact with KV-464?"

"Exactly." He looked pleased that she was able to follow the conversation.

"Well, I'll let you get back to the lab. Thank you for all your hard work, doctor." They shook hands, and Kirihara walked into Li's room. He looked up from his food as she entered.

"Li. How are you feeling?" She took the chair next to the hospital bed.

He swallowed a mouthful of rice. "Um. Fine, I guess." His face was a little wan, but he did look healthy. He looked a little thin, but that was because the hospital shirt he wore was one size too big, gaping open slightly to the smooth lines of lovely collarbones. _Just like his everyday clothes_ , she realized. _You'd never guess how fit he is under that loose clothing_. She hoped she wasn't blushing too visibly. _When does he find the time to work out?_

"How did you know I was here?" His question thankfully cut off her train of thought.

"You don't remember?" At his blank look, she explained about Yin's phone call, and going over to his apartment to find him feverish and nearly unconscious. "You were pretty out of it, I guess it's not surprising you don't remember."

"Yin called you?" he said in surprise.

Kirihara nodded. "You don't even remember Yin being at your place?" _Are they really not together, then?_

He realized he was staring at her, and shifted his focus to scrapping up the last of the rice from the bowl. "No." He didn't offer a guess as to why the girl had been there. "I owe you, you and Yin. For getting me help last night."

Kirihara smiled. "Yin, maybe, but not me – you helped me get out of that bathroom at Alice's party, remember?"

But Li shook his head, eyes wide. "I wouldn't have even gotten out of that rooftop garden if you hadn't been there."

Kirihara resisted pointing out that he had only been in danger _because_ she'd been there. "Alright, you can owe me one, if you like."

A nurse knocked lightly on the door and walked in without waiting for answer. She scooped up Li's empty food tray. "Looks like you've got a healthy appetite! That's good news for your recovery!"

"Actually," Li said tentatively, looking up at her and smiling that disarming smile, "I'm still pretty hungry. Is there any way I can get another couple bowls of rice?"

"Well, patients are usually only allowed one tray each…" Li's smile drooped slightly, in understanding disappointment. "But the doctor didn't say to restrict your food, so I'll see what I can do." Smiling sweetly, the nurse exited the room with the food tray.

"Do you do that on purpose?" Kirihara demanded. Did she look that pathetic whenever Li smiled at _her_?

Li turned a confused look on her. "Never mind," she said. "Actually, Li, I didn't just come by to see how you were doing – there's something I wanted to talk to you about. Did the doctors tell you exactly why you had to be admitted to the hospital?"

"They said it was some new strain of flu."

"That's not actually true. I think your illness is connected to a case I'm working on. Most of this is classified, so please don't repeat it to anyone."

"Ok," Li said, completely puzzled.

Kirihara paused, choosing her words carefully. "We think someone has developed a biological weapon and is using it to murder people in the city. Several people have died already. When I saw you in your apartment, I recognized the symptoms and called the EMTs right away."

Li's eyes widened. "Died?"

"You seem to have recovered perfectly," she said hurriedly, "the specialists we called in from Pandora agree."

His expression hardened a bit at her last words. "What does Pandora have to do with it?"

"The biological weapon is related to the Gate somehow," Kirihara explained. "That's why this is classified."

The door to the room opened again; the nurse was back with a tray and two more bowls of rice. Li thanked her and attacked the food right away. Kirihara was sure she saw the woman wink at him before leaving, though Li didn't seem to notice. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Anyway," she said, continuing where she'd left off before the interruption. "This is the same person who killed an officer the other day. I know you don't remember much from after you became ill, but what about before? Did you go anywhere, see anyone? Anything you can remember would be extremely helpful."

"I left Yin's right after you did, and just went home and slept."

Li set one bowl aside, empty already. As he picked up the second, Kirihara noticed that the red mark on his arm from last night was still there, like a burn. "That mark on your arm – have you always had that?"

Li looked down, seeming to notice it for the first time. "Oh, no. Actually…" he frowned.

"What?"

"I went for a walk last night, a little after midnight I think." She must have looked skeptical, because he explained, "Switching to the night shift has really screwed up my sleep schedule."

"Ok. Where did you walk to?"

He shrugged. "Nowhere in particular. I wasn't very far from my apartment; I remember seeing a couple of other men on the street, but something seemed…wrong."

Kirihara frowned. "Wrong how?"

Another shrug. "One of them seemed really nervous, the other one was watching the first, like he was thinking of mugging him or something. Then a patrol officer ran up to the nervous one, to see if he was alright. And the other guy jumped out at them – I didn't see any kind of weapon, but I got the feeling that he meant to kill them. Or hurt them, anyway."

"Did you notice anything strange about the man that was attacking?"

"Er, well…"

"Anything, no matter how weird it may sound."

"Now that I think about it…at the time it was strange, but it was probably just an odd reflection from a streetlamp or something."

Kirihara had trouble restraining her excitement. "What did you see?"

"Well, it almost looked like the man was glowing blue. Wait, is that what you were expecting me to say?"

She realized that her satisfaction with his answer was showing on her face. She probably should have let Li believe he'd imagined the synchrotron radiation. Too late now. "It has to do with the weapon," she fudged. Li seemed to buy that explanation.

"Hang on, you were just there watching this man attack the other two…but you were the only one that got sick? At least, I haven't heard of any other cases, and I should have," she said, frowning. "And there was an officer involved? Or is there still something you haven't told me?"

Li shifted awkwardly in the bed, staring into his now-empty rice bowl. Kirihara hadn't even noticed him finish, he'd eaten so quickly.

"Li?" He was hiding something, she was sure.

"It was stupid," he finally muttered, not meeting her eyes.

"What was stupid?"

He sighed. "They didn't see me there; I'd been taking a shortcut through an alleyway, and it was dark. When I realized what was happening, I ran out and pushed the attacker off balance before he could hurt anyone. He tried to grab me, but I fell. His hand touched my arm." Li indicated the burn mark. "Then he and the other guy ran off, in opposite directions. The patrolman took my name down, in case he had to file a report, but he didn't understand what was going on any more than I did."

Kirihara stared at him. Li had tried to attack a contractor? Who was on the cusp of using his ability? Did he have any idea how close he'd come to being killed? "You're right," she said, "that was really stupid."

"You don't have tell me," Li sighed ruefully. "I should have just run the other way. I don't know why I didn't."

Kirihara folded her arms and settled back to think. "Did you get a good look at the man? Can you describe him at all?"

Li considered. "It was pretty dark. He had some kind of dark coat on, I think, like an overcoat."

"What about his face?"

"Light hair – brown or blond maybe. Nothing that really stood out. Sorry."

"And the other man? The one who was being attacked?"

Li shook his head. "It happened too fast. You can ask the patrol officer. I think his name was Asami. Asano? Something like that."

"I'll track him down as soon as I leave. But this question is more important – did the attacker see _your_ face at all?"

Kirihara could tell that he hadn't considered that. "No…" he said slowly. "I don't think so. I hardly saw _his_ face, and the light was shining right on him."

She frowned. "All the same, people like that aren't known for leaving any witnesses behind. Maybe we should put both you and this officer in protective custody until we catch him." She was ashamed she hadn't thought of that earlier.

But Li didn't seem concerned. "I don't think he'd recognize me. And how would he know where to find me, without knowing my name?"

"Li, I don't think you understand how dangerous this man is. He's killed several people already. If you –"

"I'll be fine. And I still have the number you gave Yin – if I see him again, or anything suspicious, I'll call you right away."

Kirihara sighed. She couldn't force him into custody, even if it was for his own good. "Promise you'll call?"

He smiled. "Promise." She found herself instinctively wanting to trust that smile…how did he do that?

"Alright. And you can change your mind anytime. I need to head back to the office. But before I do…I wanted to ask you about Yin."

As soon as she said Yin's name, Kirihara noticed a subtle shift in Li's demeanor, like she thought she'd imagined in Koto yesterday. The change was almost too slight to see, but he was cagier now, somehow. Defensive. _Strange. "I told him you're his friend, but he doesn't believe me."_

"What about Yin?"

"I spent some time talking to her last night, after we got you to the emergency room. I like her, she's a really sweet girl, but…it just seems like there's something a little off about her. It worries me. I want to make sure everything's ok…so I was wondering how well you know her?" _And what was she doing walking into your apartment at 2 in the morning?_

The question sounded awkward and rude, Kirihara knew, but she couldn't think of a better way to phrase it. A few times last night she'd gotten the distinct impression that Yin was a doll – but then Yin would do or say something to disprove that idea. This morning though, Kirihara had gone out into the main room to wake Yin and found her already up and dressed, shirt and blanket folded neatly beside her…with her fingers dipped in the glass of water. Yin had removed her fingers when she heard Kirihara and held the glass like a normal person. And when Kirihara had asked if she was ready to go back to the hospital, Yin had said, "No, I need to go to work."

"Don't you want to see how Li is doing?"

Yin's hands had tightened around the glass. "He's alright now." And no amount of prodding withdrew an explanation for why she thought that. But if she was a doll, whose medium was water…

Li's dark-eyed gaze was beginning to make Kirihara uncomfortable. Maybe she shouldn't have asked at all. But then he looked away and answered her with a casual shrug. "Not that well, really. I had a job delivering cartons of cigarettes to the tobacco shop, that's how I met her. And it's only a couple blocks from my place, so I see her occasionally."

"Does she live by herself? She told me her mother was dead."

"Yin told you that? She must really trust you," Li said, surprised. "She's never talked much to me about her family. I know she moved to Tokyo to live with a distant relative after her mother died – he owns the tobacco shop. Or just runs it, I'm not sure. He doesn't like Yin talking to strangers, though, so you should probably not bother her there."

"He doesn't mind you talking to her?"

Li's smile twitched. "He especially doesn't like me. I know Yin seems odd; I think it's just because people are so overprotective of her, with her being blind, and she hasn't had much of a chance to socialize."

"You talk as if you're not overprotective of her," Kirihara said smiling.

"I guess I am," Li admitted. "She did something kind for me once, so I look out for her when I can."

"She's lucky to have you as a friend."

"Actually, I think I'm the lucky one," Li said, gesturing to the heart monitor strapped to his arm.

Kirihara laughed at that, but couldn't shake the feeling that Li was lying to her, or at least not telling her something. Every shred of detective's intuition she possessed was pinging. "About the tobacco shop – have you ever noticed any sort of strange activity there? People coming and going in the middle of the night, it closing at odd hours, anything like that?"

"No…why do you ask?"

She shrugged, drumming her fingers on her knee. "Just a weird feeling I have. There are some criminal organizations in the city that wouldn't scruple to take advantage of a girl like Yin – young and vulnerable, without any sort of protection. We see it a lot, actually." _He's not like the others_ , she'd said. _What others?_

"She has me," Li said quietly.

"I know she does…but if she is mixed up with dangerous people, they won't like you getting too close to her. Just be careful, I guess is what I'm trying to say."

"Mysterious men trying to poison me, criminal syndicates out to kill me for making friends with a blind girl – my life just got pretty dangerous…"

Kirihara tried not to laugh. "Li, I'm being serious!"

"So am I," he said, and to her surprise he really did have a serious expression now. "If Yin really is somehow associated with some kind of criminals, what would they do to her if they knew she's been in touch with a police chief?"

Kirihara hadn't considered that. She frowned. "Nothing good, I'm sure."

"Don't worry about it," Li said. "I really don't think Yin is in any trouble at all, but if there's any truth to what you suspect, you should stay away from her. Her relative already knows me, he doesn't like me hanging around but he knows that I do; I'll keep an eye on her."

"And if you do see anything suspicious, you'll call me? Without getting yourself involved?"

Li smiled. "Don't worry. If I see someone glowing blue, I'll run the other way."


	9. Chapter 9

The doctors had wanted Hei to stay overnight for observation, and he'd gotten the uneasy impression that the Pandora specialists wanted nothing less than him strapped to a table so they could run any and every test on him that they could think of, but an administrator had intervened and allowed Hei to check himself out that day.

He wasn't really surprised; the Syndicate probably had people at that hospital, or else someone from the Pandora team had connections. Word of his run-in with KV-464 would have reached the higher-ups, and they wanted him back on the street as soon as possible. Which was fine with Hei; he felt way too exposed and vulnerable in hospitals. It was almost as bad as the time he'd spent at Pandora a couple months ago.

There had been one little hiccup, though – he'd been brought to the ER barefoot and shirtless, and not even the Syndicate could get him released half-dressed. A few of the nurses had offered to head over to his place on their lunch breaks and pick up some things for him, if only he would give them his address…and phone number. In the end he'd had to call Yin at the tobacco shop. He hadn't been sure if she'd be able to navigate her way to the hospital – it wasn't far, but not exactly close either – but she managed it without a problem, shirt and shoes tucked into a paper shopping bag.

Now she was walking silently beside him as they headed home from the hospital. Hei wished she'd thought to bring his jacket. It wasn't cold, but he was still feeling the after effects of the illness and the toll it had taken on his body.

"I told you to be careful around Kirihara," he said, breaking the silence. "I don't know what you said, but I think she suspects you're a doll."

"You told her to stay away from me." Yin's specter had been present in the IV solution at Hei's bedside all morning. She'd heard his conversation with the police chief.

"Yes. It's safer for both of us if she does." Hei remembered Kirihara's face when she came into his hospital room, so relieved to find him alive and well. It was strange to realize that another person had been genuinely worried about his well-being; even Pai had only seemed to care how he was to the extent that he could protect her on their missions. And of course, Amber had done nothing but lie.

But it wasn't really _him_ Kirihara cared about, Hei reminded himself. She cared about Li, and most of that concern probably had more to do with what he could tell her about KV-464 than anything else.

He wished he'd been able to lie about that, but she'd recognized that spot on his arm and so had known his illness was caused by contact with the contractor; and that officer had taken his name, anyway. Kirihara would have known right away if he lied. He had held back the fact that he'd gotten a good look at KV-464's face; Hei would recognize him now if they happened to pass on the street.

He resisted the urge to rub the red spot the contractor had left on his arm. It still burned a little, but that was fading now. Hei was just shocked that he was still alive; he'd seen one of the corpses KV-464 had left behind. It hadn't been pretty. If Yin hadn't been checking up on him…

"Thank you for calling her," he said abruptly. "I owe you."

"No."

"No? I don't owe you?"

"We're partners."

Hei's mouth twitched into something like a smile. "Yeah. We are."

They continued walking for some time before the silence was broken again, this time by Yin.

"Hei."

He waited.

"Why did you save the police officer?"

Hei gave her a sidelong look. "You were watching the whole time? You're the real stalker, not those two idiots…"

"Hei. Why?"

"I didn't save the cop. I wanted to get a look at KV-464. Saving the cop was incidental. I shouldn't have made the move in the first place."

"You're lying."

How could she possibly tell? "Why do you think I did it?"

Yin was silent for a few moments, considering. "I don't know."

"Neither do I."

"Hei, are you angry I was watching you?"

"No. I'm glad I have you to watch my back."

They walked the rest of the way in silence.

-V-

Despite Kirihara's happiness at Li's recovery, she had been disappointed that he couldn't tell her anything useful about KV-464. It seemed as though they would be back to square one in the search for the elusive contractor. But when Kouno tracked down the officer who had witnessed the incident that resulted in Li's poisoning, they finally got a solid lead.

Officer Asano hadn't seen KV-464's face any better than Li had, but he _had_ gotten a good look at the man KV-464 had been after: a middle-aged man with a foreign accent, wearing a work shirt bearing the logo for Tamade Shipping, a small delivery service based in Koto. Kirihara currently had Asano ensconced in the conference room, flipping through a binder containing Tamade Shipping's employee files.

"Anything from the stakeout team?" she asked Matsumoto over her desk. She started to tap her pen against her wrist, then stopped, wincing. She had several large bruises there where Li had grabbed her arm in his delirium; thank goodness she normally wore long sleeves.

"Nothing yet, Chief. Do you think KV-464 even realizes this guy Li is still alive?"

"Probably not yet," Kirihara admitted. "And chances are, KV-464 will try to finish his botched assassination first, then clean up any loose ends like Li. But I want to make sure we have all our bases covered."

"It sounds like this truck driver, or whatever he is, knew he was being targeted. And if he didn't already know, he'd've figured it out when he saw a contractor about to kill him. If I were him, I'd be long gone by now. Australia. Australia would be a good place to hide out."

Kirihara frowned at the older man. She hadn't thought of the possibility of the man running, to Australia or anywhere. Asano had shared Li's impression that he had been unusually nervous. But… "That's assuming that the target knows what a contractor is. If he doesn't, then from his point of view, two strangers jumped out at him and a patrol officer from an alley, and one of those men ran off. No weapons were waved around, no one was actually hurt."

"You have a point, Chief."

"Um, excuse me?" They both turned to see Asano timidly poking his head out of the conference room. He was a little overwhelmed at being asked to visit Section 4 headquarters; due to the classified nature of most of their work, Section 4 was regarded with awe and respect by the younger officers. Veterans of the police force, on the other hand, had long experience with Section 4 sweeping in to steal their more interesting cases, and held a more cynical attitude toward the department.

"Did you find him?" Kirihara asked, rising from her desk.

"Ah, yes." The officer pointed to one of the pictures in his hand. Matsumoto took the folder from him.

"Park Tae-hee," Matsumoto read. "Korean national, address in Koto. Looks like his work permit expired a couple months ago…could be why he was so nervous to be approached by a patrolman."

Kirihara nodded, trying to contain her excitement. Finally, a real break! But she kept her tone moderate as she replied, "It's possible. Officer Asano, thank you for your work, this is a big help in our case. Ootsuka will see you out."

The young man bowed low, reminding her strikingly of Li, and allowed Ootsuka to escort him to the elevators. As soon as he was gone, Kirihara turned to her team. "Right, this is the break we've been waiting for. Kouno, Saitou, go to Park's home address and see whether he's still there or if he's left town. Don't approach him, I don't want him spooked. If he's split, try and track him down. If not, we need to set up surveillance. KV-464 will no doubt try to kill him again, but this time we'll be ready."

-V-

"The target of the hit you interrupted last night called in," Mao said. "The Syndicate ordered him to keep to his normal routine. He should be home all night tonight."

"Bait?" Hei stood at the kitchen sink, washing rice for supper.

"Yep. KV-464 will probably make another try for him, tonight. If he does, we'll be waiting."

"And the Syndicate's man?"

Mao sniffed at the fish fillet Hei had left out to thaw. "Lower on the food chain than even we are. Easily replaced. KV-464 is our only concern."

Hei cut a slice of raw fish off the fillet and handed it to Mao, who gobbled it down. "I noticed you have some new friends outside," the cat said around a mouthful of fish.

"Kirihara seems to think KV-464 might come after Li, to tie up loose ends," Hei said. "They're not a problem." The police detail that she had sent to stake out his apartment building were pretty inconspicuous, for police.

"Is the lady cop going to be a problem?" Mao asked, eyeing Hei.

Hei kept his tone level. "She thinks Li was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We'll kill the target tonight, and that'll be the end of it."

"If you say so. Actually, it's probably a good thing the cops are out there tonight."

"Why?"

"Because otherwise, Huang would be here himself to give you your orders – he wasn't too happy when he heard about your little escapade last night."

Hei snorted. Huang could shout until he was blue in the face, for all Hei cared.

"Why didn't you just kill the target last night, anyway?"

"Too risky. I didn't have my mask, anyone could have seen."

"Risky, huh? You still ended up in the hospital, almost dead. You are one lucky bastard, you know that?"

Hei ignored the cat and drained his rice.


	10. Chapter 10

Park Tae-hee lived alone in a small, two-storey single family house. Kouno and Saitou had verified that he hadn't fled town, although he had called in sick that night to his employer, which meant that he should be at home all night. And sure enough, from her view from Saitou's car parked in the back alley a few houses away, the lights were on. He was home. _All_ the lights were on…he was home, and he was nervous.

"All quiet on this end," came Kouno's voice through the radio. He and Matsumoto were watching the front street, one on each end. Anyone wanting to get to Park's house, alley or street, would have to pass by at least one of her team.

Kirihara quickly swallowed a huge bite of hamburger, and answered. "Roger. Remember, if you see anyone you suspect is KV-464, avoid physical contact at all costs."

Saitou handed her a bottle of milk. As she drank, she considered Park. They'd interviewed his employer and a few of his coworkers. Nothing had turned up to suggest any sort of connection to KV-464's other targets. Maybe there were no connections. Maybe KV-464 was simply a hit man for hire, and the people he killed had nothing to do with each other.

There was definitely something suspicious going on with Park though. According to his boss, Park was divorced and currently single, and sent a large part of his paycheck to his ex-wife and kids back in Seoul every week. He shouldn't have been able to afford a house like this on his own, small as it was. Where was the extra money coming from? Off-the-books deliveries, perhaps? Smuggling? Did he work for the same people as KV-464, and was being targeted for skimming off the top? Or was this a dispute between two gangs over turf? A smuggling ring could make sense…the two bankers might have been involved in laundering money, while Park was the man on the ground, the mule…

The radio suddenly crackled, startling Kirihara so much that she almost dropped the milk bottle.

"Chief!"

"Matsumoto - what is it?"

"A man just passed my position. Black overcoat, light colored hair."

"Right." Her heart was beating harder now. "We're on. Buzz my phone as soon as you see him approach the house. Saitou, let's go."

She and Saitou exited the car as quietly as they could and crept towards the back of Park's house, guns drawn. A low chain link fence separated the house from the back alley. Saitou opened the gate carefully, and he and Kirihara slipped through and took up positions on either side of the back door, away from the light streaming through the windows. Kirihara waited tensely for Matsumoto's signal.

-V-

Hei watched the movements of the police from the roof of the neighboring house. "Huang, this is going to be a problem," he said quietly into his radio.

"We don't have a choice," came the gruff answer. "The Syndicate's lighting my ass on fire over this one. Do your damn job – kill the target, and don't get caught."

Beside Hei, Mao sighed. "Easy for him to say. This is going to get messy."

"Target is twenty yards from the front door," Yin reported. "Two police behind him. Armed."

"He's got to know the police are there - he's going to take out Park, then escape through the back, right into those other two," Mao guessed.

Hei's mind raced through all the angles of the situation.

"Mao, as soon as the target is inside, I'll kill the lights while you flush out Park. Whichever way he goes, he'll distract the police. I'll come down from the second floor and engage the target." Without waiting for an answer, Hei leapt silently across the narrow gap to Park's roof, black against the black night.

"Right, let's just get this over with," Mao muttered, and deftly made his way down to the ground.

-V-

Kirihara's phone buzzed in her pocket. She signaled to Saitou, who nodded. He stood poised to kick down the door while she covered him. In the shadow of the porch, she could see him mouthing the words, _"Three…two…"_

_Brrzap!_

In an instant the whole house went pitch black. Kirihara gasped - BK-201? _Shit, this is bad!_

"Chief?" Saitou whispered urgently.

Kirihara hesitated. Could they risk both contractors? But half her team was on the other side of the house, she couldn't leave them hanging. "We're go-" _fwap!_ The door hit her in the face; a figure dashed from the house as she went sprawling. "Stop him!"

Saitou jumped after the fleeing figure, catching him at the gate. "Freeze!" he shouted, firing a warning shot at the ground. The man froze; there was just enough light from the neighboring houses that Kirihara could tell it was Park, eyes wide and shaking in fear.

"Cuff him," she said, "then back me up." Gun held at the ready, she entered the dark house.

Bare wood floors creaked under her feet, the noise loud in her ears. It wasn't completely dark inside; a faint flickering light was coming from a room ahead. A candle? Kirihara cautiously made her way around the dark shapes of fixtures. She must be in the kitchen. There was a doorway; she could just make out the door frame. The flickering light beckoned her ahead. Where were Kouno and Matsumoto? Had they stayed outside?

Sweeping her gun side to side, she moved to the next room. A hallway, rather. She thought she could hear the muffled sound of footsteps, but they weren't going anywhere. A thump, and the clash of metal on metal. Up ahead, in the room where the light was. A staircase loomed in the shadows to her left. Then her foot nudged something heavy, nearly tripping her. She glanced down. A body. Alive or dead, she couldn't tell. Heart pounding, Kirihara knelt. Kouno. She felt for a pulse, then sighed in relief. Still alive. Though if it had been KV-464 who had gotten to him…she pushed that thought from her mind. She had to find the contractors.

The candlelight was coming from the front room, shadows dancing wildly on the walls - and in between the shadows two men fought, dark as shadows themselves, looming huge in the small room. BK-201 and KV-464! She paused in the doorway; should she shoot? She wanted them both alive, but didn't think she could incapacitate both contractors; they were moving so fast. There was only one candle burning, and the light was too dim and quavery to make out KV-464's features.

 _Damn it! Where is Saitou with my cover?_ The Black Reaper had his double-bladed knives out. KV-464 fought with a knife as well; longer than the Reaper's, but Kirihara thought he was a little less skilled with it than his opponent was.

KV-464 danced to the side as BK-201 aimed a kick at his face, then brought his knife up and slashed backhanded at the Reaper's face. BK-201 parried with his own knife, blade alive with electricity. KV-464's knife sparked and he dropped it, hissing in pain. He ducked BK-201's next slash and rolled over the top of a coffee table - straight at Kirihara. She gasped and threw herself to the side, sprawling over a hard metal chair to land on soft carpet. Her gun skidded from her hand. KV-464 jumped to his feet and raced towards the back of the house.

BK-201 started to follow, but Kirihara wasn't about to let him escape her this time. Still on the ground, she grabbed the legs of the chair next to her and swung it as hard as she could. He hadn't expected that. The chair connected with his knees and he stumbled long enough for her to roll to the side, grab her gun, and fire directly into his chest.

But he didn't fall. _Oh shit_. He reached for her gun, eerie white mask cold and expressionless. _Shit, shit!_ Before Kirihara could react, the Black Reaper's gloved hand closed around her wrist. The bruised wrist.

A cry of pain escaped her lips as he twisted the gun out of her hand and pulled her to her feet in one smooth, strong motion. She kicked at his knee, but he hardly seemed to notice. He twisted her so that one arm held her tight against his chest, wrist still trapped in his grip. His mask was cold against her cheek.

She felt the hilt of a knife digging into her ribs. Desperately, she grasped it with her free hand, but before she could draw the blade, BK-201's other hand wrapped cold leather fingers around her neck, squeezing, and the soft glow of synchrotron radiation surrounded her. _Shit_ , was all she had time to think, before everything went black.


	11. Chapter 11

"Damn cops," Huang muttered for the third time. Or fourth; Hei wasn't really keeping count. The four of them were holed up in a safe house near the docks. Yin sat silent and still as a statue, while Mao lay in her lap, eyes closed in boredom. Huang was pacing, cigarette burning to ash between his lips. Hei sat next to Yin on the battered sofa, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. He was still in his Black Reaper gear.

"Hei did try to warn you it would go bad," Mao said, not bothering to open his eyes.

"We have one more shot at this," Huang said sharply, jabbing his cigarette in the air to punctuate each word. "One more shot, then we're out on our asses. And by out, I mean dead."

"It would help if we knew where he was headed next. Park was the only target we knew about. Too bad he's dead."

Huang eyed the cat. " _You_ ran him right into police custody." He turned to Hei. "But Mao's right; so don't think you'll be getting any brownie points for that, even though we did need his mouth shut."

Hei ignored the reprimand, if that's what it was. Huang would have been even more upset if Park had lived to give the police any information about his connection to the Syndicate, slight though it had been.

"We have another target for KV-464," he said in a low voice. Mao opened one eye.

"Who?" Huang asked.

It was Yin who answered. "Li."

"Hm." Mao opened the other eye and raised his head. "Through our dead mole, we leak the information to KV-464 that Li survived his attack, and can positively ID him to the police. KV-464 will come after him…all we have to do is set up the ambush."

"Not the police," Hei said. With the luck they'd been having lately, even a fake operation involving Section 4 would go horribly wrong. "Say I'm going to sell the intel to the Syndicate. That will worry him more."

Huang grunted. "Maybe you idiots aren't as useless as I thought."

"We should shoot him this time," Mao said. "No more fighting in close quarters, not now that he's bringing knives to the party. He'll probably have a gun next."

"He won't expose himself to sniper fire, especially if he suspects the Black Reaper will be there," Hei said. "I'll need to do it, up close and personal. I'll be too close for Huang to get a good shot."

"Yeah, I might accidentally shoot you. And don't think I would mind doing it." Huang stabbed out his cigarette and lit another.

"Well, the details will take some ironing out," Mao said as he jumped down from Yin's lap and stretched. "I'd say we have a day or two to get it set up. Plenty of time to catch up on my napping."

"We may be getting other orders," Huang reminded him. "But I'll pass the idea on. I can't think of a better one, in any case."

"And we all know you're the brains of this outfit." Mao dodged Huang's kick on his way out the door.

-V-

"So in other words, none of us has any idea what the hell happened here," Kirihara said to nobody in particular, transferring the ice pack from her nose to the back of her neck. Her nose had nearly been broken by the door swinging open in her face, and she'd woken from BK-201's attack with a splitting headache.

Her team looked appropriately abashed. The whole thing had been a disaster. After the house had gone dark, Matsumoto had stayed outside to cover the front entrance. Kouno had gone in after KV-464 only to get knocked out by someone coming down the stairs. BK-201, most likely, though Kouno hadn't seen a thing.

Saitou, after cuffing Park and securing him in the back of his car, had come charging up to the house to cover Kirihara. Except then he'd tripped on a cat, and knocked himself unconscious on the back step. A nice black eye was already starting to show under his own ice pack. Kirihara was finding it hard to feel sympathy for him at the moment; but in the end it was probably for the best. KV-464 would have run right into him otherwise, and in the dark like that, chances were that Saitou would have been hit with the contractor's ability before he had a chance to get off an accurate shot.

Kirihara herself had woken to Matsumoto's hand shaking her shoulder, flashlight blinding her. Now she was sitting on the front step outside Park's house. They'd called in the EMTs to look after everyone's injuries - amazingly, nothing worse than some nasty bruises and a minor concussion, in Kouno's case - but the fuse box had been completely blown by BK-201's power surge; the crime scene unit would have to wait until it was daylight to do a thorough investigation. Not that there was any rush.

Footsteps tapped on concrete as Matsumoto came walking around the side of the house. "Where's Park?" Kirihara asked. She'd wanted to start questioning him immediately.

The older man's expression was stony in the orange glow of the streetlamps. "I couldn't move him," he said. "Didn't want to disturb the crime scene."

"Crime scene? What crime scene!"

She and her team jogged to the back alley, where Saitou's car was still parked. Matsumoto pointed his flashlight behind the car. Kirihara walked over to look: Park lay face down on the pavement, hands still cuffed behind his back, his head and upper torso lying in a pool of wet blood gleaming red under the beam of light. His throat had been cut.

"Damn. KV-464 must have seen him when he ran from the house, and taken the opportunity to finish the job," Kouno said, squatting to get a better look at the dead man.

But Saitou shook his head. "I locked the car doors, I'm sure of it. And the safety locks in the backseat were engaged. There's no way he could have gotten Park out of the car."

"You were knocked out," Kouno pointed out. "He could have gone back and gotten your keys."

Saitou reached into his pocket. "They're here. Why would he take my keys and then put them back? Especially with BK-201 still after him?"

"BK-201," Kirihara said suddenly, taking Matsumoto's flashlight from his hand. "Look. The locks on all the doors are all still down, except that back door. He used his ability to unlock just that one door, pulled Park out, and then cut his throat once he had him out. Considerate of him, actually," she added. "You'd never have gotten all that blood out of the upholstery otherwise."

"I thought it was KV-464 who was after Park, not BK-201," Saitou said, looking sick at the thought of so much blood in his car. She probably shouldn't have said that. Why had she even thought it? She realized with a sudden stab of terror that that very well could have been her on the ground, dead and bloodless. She reached up to her throat; she was sure she could still feel the pressure of that merciless hand.

"If they were both after Park, why were they fighting then?" Kouno asked, bringing Kirihara back to the scene in front of her. "If it were me, and I realized that another contractor was after my mark, I'd let him have it. That's more rational, right?"

"Unless they didn't know the other was here," Matsumoto put in. "Both after Park, he split and they were stuck with each other."

Kirihara rubbed her temples. Her head was killing her, and none of this made any sense. Her case was crumbling to dust around her. She sighed. "We'll wait for the crime scene report. We should at least be glad that none of us were injured any worse than we were. Let's call this in; it's going to be a long night."


	12. Chapter 12

Two days later, Kirihara was back in the Koto neighborhood. She felt like a complete mess. The bruises on her wrist were turning a nasty shade of purple, fading into a sickening yellow and green at the edges. The bruise on her nose didn't look near as bad, but whenever her glasses slipped down a little, they bumped it and it hurt like hell. And the ass-chewing she'd gotten from the Director when she made her report didn't help. Even the weather was miserable - cold, wet, and dreary.

And every time she closed her eyes, she saw BK-201's chalk white mask in front of her, his black glove wrapping around her neck in an iron grip that she was helpless to escape.

Why hadn't he just killed her? Did he not have enough power left, after fighting KV-464 and taking out the lights in the house? In that case, he could still have just strangled her, or cut her throat. Or was she just so pathetic a threat to him that he simply didn't care whether he killed her or not?

That was most likely, she decided. His target - whether it was KV-464, or Park, or both - was outside the house, and she was just an obstacle in his way, to be thrown aside like a piece of trash. She'd never been more terrified in her life, and he probably never even gave a thought to her. Working with November 11 and April had made her almost forget what ruthless monsters contractors truly were.

The crime scene unit had finally cleared the scene at Park's house. Rather than waiting for the team leader's report, Kirihara drove through the cold drizzle in person to discuss it with him. She needed to feel like she was doing something.

But there was nothing to discuss, really. They confirmed her guess that Park had been pulled from the car after an electrical disruption in the power lock on one door, after which his throat had been efficiently cut. He'd bled out in minutes. BK-201's work.

Nothing was found in the house either, though her own team had combed through it as well. Park hadn't kept any sort of record or evidence of any ongoing illegal activity he may have been involved in. The knife left behind by KV-464 had no fingerprints and couldn't be traced.

The candle, the one that had been burning when BK-201 killed the lights, was part of a small shrine in the front room. Praying for deliverance from KV-464 perhaps? Somehow, she didn't think the Black Reaper was the answer he'd hoped for.

Kirihara hadn't been able to even enter that room. One look at the cream-colored carpet had her envisioning a large wine-red stain in the middle of it, with the outline of her lifeless body drawn out in tape. She'd listened to team leader's report at the kitchen table, ice pack on the back of her neck again. She blamed her weakness on a lingering headache.

The only surprising find had been her bullet, the one she'd fired at BK-201. It was buried in the wall near the staircase, intact - as if it had ricocheted off of him instead of being halted by Kevlar as she'd assumed. That was strange. As of yet, no one had been able to figure out how that could have happened. Was the man bulletproof, on top of everything else? She'd believe it. Catching him was going to be impossible.

The case against KV-464 had come to a complete standstill, even though Matsumoto had gotten a good look at his face: light hair that could have been anywhere between medium blond and medium brown; average-sized nose, average height, average build. Despite not being Asian, the contractor would easily go unremarked anywhere in the city.

But, KV-464 hadn't shown any activity in the last two days. Saitou was convinced he had left Tokyo. The police detail that Kirihara had assigned to watch over Li reported no suspicious activity. No one visited his apartment, no one followed when he went to work or came home, and no one was seen loitering on the street.

That was a relief, at least. By now, if he'd thought to check up on it, if he was even able to, KV-464 would have realized that Li was not, in fact, dead. But Li seemed to be right: KV-464 hadn't gotten a good enough look at him or else had no way of tracking him down.

A stab of pain went through her temple; an after-effect of BK-201's electrical shock. Kirihara remembered what Li had told her, about taking things one hour at a time. Right now, even that felt too hard. One minute at a time, that was about all she could manage. She hadn't seen Li since she'd talked to him in the hospital. That was what, three days ago?

She wasn't all that far from his apartment building now…she didn't know what time he had to leave for work, but it was almost dinner time. Most likely he'd be home, either asleep or just waking up and getting ready for the "day." She'd hate to wake him if he was asleep, but just the thought of seeing his smile eased her headache a bit. And right now, she couldn't stand the thought of going back to the office to beat her pounding head again the brick wall that was this case.

Decided, she thanked the crime unit's team leader for his help, got into her car, and headed to Li's apartment. The rain had finally stopped.


	13. Chapter 13

As it turned out, Li was awake. She caught him at the entrance to his building, bag of groceries in hand. He smiled when her car pulled up to the curb, splashing lightly through puddles of rainwater. "Kirihara! Good to see you!"

"Li, hi." She returned his smile as she got out of the car. She could feel her mood improving already.

Then he said, "Uh, what happened to your car?"

"Accident," she sighed. "The body shop wanted a ridiculous price; I need to find someone who isn't a complete crook to fix it."

"Ah," Li said, without a trace of optimism in his voice. "Good luck."

"Yeah. Did I catch you at a bad time?" she asked, indicating the groceries.

"No, I was just heading in to make dinner. I have to work later tonight."

"I see. I wanted to stop by and see how you were doing after your illness, but I was a little afraid you might be-" She was cut short when Li suddenly grabbed her bruised wrist and pulled her against his chest. She gasped aloud in pain.

Li let go just as suddenly and took a step back, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, did I hurt you? I didn't mean to, it's just…that car drove by so fast, I thought it was going to splash mud all over you."

Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest, but not from the pain. BK-201's mask floated in front of her face, her wrist trapped in his grasp again, knife blade at her throat. "What? Sorry, no, I'm fine. Thank you for pulling me out of the way." Kirihara looked down the sidewalk; she'd just missed getting her calves and ankles soaked in grimy rainwater.

"Are you sure you're ok? You look awfully pale."

"I'm…" _fine_ , she was about to say, but realized it was completely untrue. She felt as if she was unraveling at the seams. "No, not really. Do you think I could grab a glass of water?"

"No problem." Li smiled and held up his bag of groceries. "Are you hungry?"

-V-

"I really didn't mean to grab your arm that hard, I'm sorry," Li said for the tenth time, voice heavy with guilt.

"It wasn't you," Kirihara assured him. "You just happened to catch the part of my arm that was already bruised." She set down her water glass and pulled back her sleeve, showing him the ring of bruises.

Li looked up from stirring the rice in his wok. He had refused any attempt by her to help him prepared dinner. "What happened?" he asked, eyes wide.

"I had an altercation with a suspect," she said vaguely. She couldn't tell him that the older set of bruises had actually been caused by him.

To her surprise, Li was smiling. "It wasn't funny," Kirihara said, a little insulted.

"Sorry, I'm not laughing at your injury. You just sound so formal and…police-like. An 'altercation'?"

She laughed. "You're right, I'm sorry. No more shoptalk. It's just been a rough couple of days. I came here to see how you were doing, not to complain about myself."

Li served the rice into two bowls and handed one to her. They knelt on the floor in the middle of his empty apartment, at a small table he'd pulled out from the corner, that Kirihara hadn't noticed the last time she'd been here.

"I'm fine," he assured her. "I was a little tired when I got home from the hospital, but a few hours of sleep fixed that."

The way he sat, hunched over his bowl like that, his shirt gaped open at the collar, revealing the most beautiful collarbones Kirihara had ever seen. She cleared her throat and quickly lowered her eyes to her own bowl.

"I stopped by the hospital again later that afternoon, but you'd already checked yourself out. Wouldn't it have been better to stay another night?"

Li shrugged. "I had to work that night. I can't afford to lose the job."

"Well, I'm glad you're ok. I was worried about you," Kirihara admitted. She ate a spoonful of the fried rice. "Oh my god, this is amazing!"

"Do you think it's good? Thanks."

"It's more than good! You could be a chef - where did you learn to cook like this?"

Li was clearly embarrassed by the compliments. He shrugged again. "An old Cantonese woman taught me. It's a long story."

"Sounds interesting - tell me."

"It's not, really."

It took some urging, but she finally got him to start talking as they polished off the rice. "My sister and I were living on our own, after our parents died. She…wasn't really herself after they died, and I wanted to cheer her up. It was the Autumn Festival, and I decided to try and make traditional moon cakes, like our mother used to. I'd helped my mother make them before, but I really had no idea what I was doing."

Li had her in stitches as he described his failed attempts at making the cakes. She couldn't remember the last time she'd laughed like that.

"So then this old woman walked through the door - didn't even knock, just walked right in, shouting in Cantonese. She lived in the apartment above us, and the smoke from the oven was wafting out the open window and ruining the laundry she'd just hung up. Is what we eventually figured out - she didn't speak a word of Mandarin, and we didn't know Cantonese. Anyway, she saw the mess of eggs and all the burnt cakes, guessed what I was trying to do, and walked me through it step by step, scolding and swearing at me the whole time."

"Did you get the cakes right in the end?"

"Several dozen eggs later," Li smiled. "And I learned my first Cantonese words: 'stupid children', 'idiot boy', and a few good curse words."

Kirihara laughed.

"We stayed in the apartment another month, and every night she stopped by to help me learn a new dish, all the time complaining that it was only because she didn't want me to burn the place down. But I think she was just lonely; her husband had died along with their only son years ago, and she didn't have anyone else."

"Did your sister cheer up?"

The warmth seemed to drain from Li's smile. His eyes were focused on his bowl as he scraped up the last of the rice. Suddenly Kirihara thought she understood what Yin had meant earlier - there _was_ a deep sadness lurking under the surface of Li's cheerful demeanor.

"Not really," he said with a casual shrug. "But I found that I liked cooking, so I kept practicing it. After that month, I was practically fluent in Cantonese. And cooking is how I learned Japanese - I got a job at a place that served traditional Japanese food, and I learned the language along with the techniques."

"That's pretty enterprising of you. I don't think I could - oh, excuse me," Kirihara said as her phone started buzzing. She looked at the text message. "Ah, it's just Saitou checking in."

Actually, it was Saitou asking if she wanted to join them for drinks. She'd given her team the night off; with no leads to pursue, and after the fiasco the other night, they needed the chance to recover and unwind. She quickly texted back: _Sorry. Headache._

"I should let you get going then," Li said. Before she could correct him - she really didn't need to be going at all - he continued, "I need to leave for work soon anyway."

"Oh, it is getting late, isn't it," Kirihara said, trying to hide her disappointment. "Thank you for the meal, it was excellent." She stood to go.

Li stood too, bowing slightly. "I'm glad you enjoyed it, Chief Kirihara. It doesn't quite pay you back for saving my life, but it's a start."

"Please, call me Misaki - I think we're past such formalities." She felt her cheeks reddening.

"I think you're right, Misaki," Li smiled.

-V-

Kirihara started her car, surprised at how quickly the time had flown while she had been eating and talking with Li. She wished she could have thought of an excuse stay later, even if he did have to work. She knew exactly how Li could pay her back for saving his life…

She sighed to herself, blushing again in the darkness of her car's interior as she remembered him pulling her to his chest out on the sidewalk to keep her from getting splashed. Why did he have to grab her bruised wrist? Why couldn't she have just ignored the pain so she could have enjoyed the moment? …And why did it have to so viscerally remind her of the Black Reaper's attack on her?

Damn BK-201. It wasn't fair. Maybe she ought to join the others at the bar after all. She turned on her headlights, and pulled away from the curb.

-V-

Hei watched surreptitiously as Kirihara's blue Porsche pulled away. He hadn't meant to invite her in, but she'd looked so exhausted and lost. And when he'd grabbed her arm…he hadn't realized that he'd left such nasty bruises. It made him feel guilty. Why did he feel guilty about that? It was her own damn fault; she should have stayed on the ground, out of his way, instead of attacking him with a chair. And then trying for one of his knives - he was impressed in spite of himself.

Hei had actually enjoyed his conversation with her over dinner. Her eyes really brightened when she laughed… He shook his head, as if to forcibly clear her from his thoughts. He needed to focus tonight. There was work to do.

He pulled his earpiece from his pocket and secured it in place. "Yin?"

Her voice sounded clear in his ear. "Mission is confirmed 'go'." Hei nodded, and turned on the faucet to start washing up from dinner.


	14. Chapter 14

Kirihara hit her brakes as a group of teenagers darted across the road, splashing through puddles and laughing. _That is so dangerous_ , she scolded them mentally. Before she started forward again, a battered old Jeep pulled out onto the street ahead of her, driver illuminated in her headlights.

_What an unpleasant looking man_ , Kirihara thought. _He looks like someone out of an old mobster movie, with that ridiculous hat._ Then she saw the girl sitting in the backseat. _Yin? Is that old man her relative?_

They looked nothing alike, but Li had said he was a _distant_ relative…but something about the situation felt wrong to her. Where was the man taking Yin? Why was she sitting in the back, like some kind of cargo? Was she in some kind of trouble?

Without stopping to consider whether it was a good idea or not, Kirihara began following the other car.

It was tricky; her Porsche stood out too much from the cars around it. She found herself having to drop off further and further behind. The man in the hat was heading towards the waterfront. It was well past business hours. Did he own another shop? A boat? Why would he be taking Yin there?

The traffic thinned out as they got closer to the water; Kirihara switched off her headlights and followed carefully, even crossing to a parallel street and keeping an entire block between them and watching for the reappearance of the beat up old car at every intersection.

Finally, the Jeep turned down a side street. Kirihara drove past; the Jeep was pulling up to a storefront. She parked her Porsche a block away. There were no people out in the streets in this neighborhood; it consisted mostly of seedy-looking businesses that were closed and barred for the night, and empty, run-down buildings scarred by graffiti and broken windows.

She was really worried about Yin now; this was no place for her to be. Had Kirihara's suspicions been right, and Yin was being used by some criminal gang? Kirihara checked to make sure that her police ID and cell phone were in her jacket pocket, and retrieved her gun holster from the glove box. Securing her weapon under arm, she threw her jacket on and exited her car.

It had rained harder here, it seemed, or else the rainwater just had nowhere else to go despite the bay being so close. Her feet were soaked in minutes. She didn't see a single person on the street or in any of the windows. Yet, she felt dangerously exposed, as if someone was watching her every move. But trying to hide her movements would have only been more suspicious.

The old Jeep was still where she had seen it pull up, engine off. Kirihara walked up to the car as nonchalantly as she could and glanced in the windows. It was empty. They must have gone into one of the storefronts. But which one? All were pretty rundown and decrepit…then she noticed that only one still had its front window intact, across the street. It looked like an old bar. Was that where they'd gone?

Kirihara paused to consider her next move. She shouldn't approach the building without backup, like every cop in every terrible cop movie always did. That was a good way to get yourself killed. But could she call for backup? She didn't actually have a solid reason to suspect that Yin was in any trouble; it was just a hunch. A hunch that got stronger and stronger with each passing minute.

She would call Saitou, she decided. He would drive down and back her up without question. But just as she was taking her cell phone from her pocket, the door to the building she'd identified opened and the man in the hat walked out. Kirihara dropped to a crouch behind the Jeep. She didn't think he'd seen her.

"…Sorry, reception's shit in there," he was saying into a cell phone. From his voice, he sounded like a heavy smoker. "We're already in play, changing the game at this point is going to be tricky… Anti-what? ...Yeah, yeah, spare me the need-to-know bullshit, we'll take care of it."

He hung up the phone and took a small hand-held radio out of his pocket. "Change of objective, boys…" his voice cut off as he returned to the dilapidated bar.

Kirihara's heart was pounding. There was definitely something fishy going on here, and Yin was in the middle of it. She ran through a mental list of options. Her hands were tied, legally - she had no proof of a crime, no proof that Yin was in any actual danger, nothing to justify calling in the police. Yin might even have full knowledge and be a willing party to whatever is she was involved in - though Kirihara doubted that.

Although…had she been right after all? _Was_ Yin a doll? If she was, that could mean contractors involved, which meant she had to be extra cautious. Was the man in the hat a contractor?

The lights in the front of the bar were off; Yin, the man in the hat, and whoever else was there were probably in a back room, or upstairs. She might be able to sneak inside, get close enough to overhear something incriminating… No, that would be stupid. She would call Saitou and Kouno for backup, unofficially. They would watch and wait, and be on hand to help Yin in case there was a sign of danger.

She flipped open her cell phone and dialed Saitou.

-V-

"Stop staring at your phone, Saitou," Ootsuka teased loudly above the thumping music of the karaoke bar. "It's not sexy at all!"

"I dunno about sexy," Kouno muttered around his beer, "but it's pretty pathetic." The music really wasn't helping his concussion.

Matsumoto picked Saitou's phone up from the beer-sticky table. "The Chief needs quiet to rest - she was nearly electrocuted, after all. Anyway, she ordered us to have a good time, so we're going to have a good time." He powered off the phone. Saitou sighed morosely.

"Good job, Matsumoto!" Ootsuka squealed. Most of the empty bottles on the table were hers. "Now whose turn is it for karaoke?"

-V-

"Saitou, call me back as soon as you get this," Kirihara said quietly into her phone, still crouching behind the Jeep, looking through its windows to keep an eye on the door to the bar. "It's urgent."

Damn it, why had the call gone straight to voicemail? Was his phone off? That wasn't like him. Well, she would try Kouno next. She ended the call, and started to scroll through her contacts list.

"Drop the phone, sweetheart, and put your hands on the car," said a gruff voice behind her. She froze, heart pounding, and heard the unmistakable click of a gun being cocked directly behind her head. "I'm not kidding, sister - you wanna get out of this alive, you do what I say."

Slowly, Kirihara lowered her phone to the wet concrete, her other hand moving up towards the side of the Jeep. She set the phone down.

"Good," said the man. The man in the hat, she was sure. She could smell tobacco smoke on his clothes. How had he gotten behind her? "Now both hands on the car, like a good girl."

Kirihara narrowed her eyes. _Like a good girl?_ She was going to break every yellow tooth in his fat sexist head. But first, she did as he asked, the metal of the car door cold on her hands. The man stepped up behind her.

As he bent to frisk her, she pushed herself up off the ground and made a grab for his gun-hand. But it was the wrong hand, she realized, just as the butt of his gun slammed into her temple.


	15. Chapter 15

Once again, Kirihara woke to splitting pain in her skull. She groaned and opened her eyes. She was lying on her side, on a nasty old leather couch that smelled like mothballs. When she tried to sit up, she realized something was wrong. Her arms...Why couldn't she move her arms?

As the haze in her mind cleared, she realized that her arms were pulled back behind her and secured with something that felt like a plastic zip tie. It dug painfully into her wrists. She tried to wiggle free, but it was too tight.

The room was silent, but Kirihara quickly saw that she wasn't alone. Across from her, an old wooden table sat in the center of the small room, three chairs around it. The man in the hat occupied one chair; except now his hat, and old brown raincoat, were thrown over the back of the chair. He was staring at a newspaper, seemingly oblivious to Kirihara, but she got the distinct impression that most of his attention was on her. On the tabletop in front of him lay her phone, her gun, and her police ID. _Damn._

Then she saw the other occupant of the room. _Yin._ The girl sat across from the man, straight and still. Yin's hands were folded neatly in her lap, and her bare feet were submerged in a shallow pan of water under the table.

_She is a doll then_ , Kirihara realized. It made her inexplicably sad. Was the sweet, quiet girl who missed her mother just a construct? A program? _Was Yin the one who told him I was outside watching?_

There was no doubt the man knew she was awake, so she didn't bother trying to hide her efforts to sit up. Even after she'd managed it, he ignored her completely. So did Yin.

"Well?" Kirihara finally asked.

"Well what?" the man responded sourly, not looking at her.

"Well…aren't you going to ask me who I am, why I followed you? Tell me what you tied me up here for? Warn me not to scream? Anything?" She doubted she was going to get out of this alive; she didn't understand why he hadn't killed her already.

The man snorted, and turned to face her. "You're a nosy cop who stuck her beak in where it don't belong, and ended up dead because of it. _When_ you end up dead is up to you; scream, or do anything to piss me off, and I'll shoot you. You want to live a couple hours longer, then behave yourself. Happy now?"

There was something familiar about his face, now that Kirihara was seeing at him up close, but she couldn't place it.

"Why not just kill me now?" she demanded. Maybe she could push him into revealing something about who he was, or who he was working for…

For some reason, the question made him uncomfortable. He shifted awkwardly and muttered into his paper, "Not my department." But then he jabbed a fat finger at her. "But don't think I won't hesitate to shoot you in the kneecap if you try anything funny."

_Why_ doesn't _he just shoot me_ , she wondered. _Is he reluctant to kill a police officer? Wait…_ she suddenly realized why he looked familiar.

"You used to be a detective!"

He gave her a dirty look.

"I remember seeing you a couple of times, when I went to the station to visit my dad." What was his name? For the life of her, she couldn't remember. His face was very memorable, though.

"Kirihara's bratty little kid. I remember you."

She ignored the insult. He used to be a cop, that was why he hadn't killed her outright; she could use that. Make him feel guilty enough, and maybe he'd let her go.

"You quit the force…because your partner died, right? Killed by a contractor? I read through all those old files when I was first assigned to Section 4. That case was never solved."

"It was solved, alright," he grunted. "That's why I quit, to get away from the monsters. And now I'm here, where all my best pals are monsters. Funny the way the world works."

Kirihara had no idea what he meant by that. "Why -"

But he cut her off. "I may be too much of a sentimental old fool to kill you myself, but Hei won't give a shit, and I don't give a shit that he don't give a shit. You're dead no matter what, sister - but if you want to be all in one piece when you say hello to Hei, you'll keep your mouth shut."

_Who's Hei_ , she wanted to ask, dread settling in the pit of her stomach. But she kept quiet; she'd find a way out of this on her own. But looking around the room, she didn't see anything that would help.

She guessed they were in the basement of the bar, or whatever it was: there weren't any windows, and a steep staircase with a rickety wooden banister took up one wall, ascending upwards into black gloom.

On the opposite wall was a counter and sink, with cabinets underneath. An exterior door was set in the wall next to the sink; most likely a stairwell was on the other side, leading up into some alley. That must be how the ex-detective had been able to sneak up on her, damn him. He and the table were between her and the door. There was no other furniture, and the only light came from a grimy fixture overhead. It was a dingy, depressing room.

Kirihara tried to shift her bound arms into a more comfortable position, without success. If the man left the room for even just a few minutes, she might be able to make it through the door. Though she couldn't tell if it was locked or not.

If Saitou got her message and then couldn't reach her, he might realize something was wrong and track her phone. Kirihara cursed herself ten times the idiot for not leaving a more detailed message, or at least telling him where she was.

But chances were, her sim card was out in the street, in a hundred broken pieces, and her phone untraceable. The man had heard her leave the voicemail; she couldn't bluff her way out. There was always Astronomics' doll network...but she was sure Yin would have orders to alert the man to any specters that appeared; then he would just shoot her, or else keep her as a hostage. That wouldn't end well.

She tried not to give in to hopelessness. She would find a way. She just had to survive, one hour at a time. She might have more of a chance if she could find a way to free her hands…

Without warning, Yin spoke. "Hei is moving."

"Finally," the former detective muttered, folding his newspaper and dropping it on the table. He picked up an earbud and placed it in his ear, then connected the wire to his handheld radio. "And his friends?"

"Following. All."


	16. Chapter 16

Around midnight, the target exited his apartment. He walked in clear view down the street, hunched into his jacket against the cold night air. Behind him, the police detail followed, one man on foot, another hanging back in an unmarked car. So obvious; though the target was blissfully unaware. Demetri stayed close behind the car, keeping out of view of its mirrors.

Demetri had spent most of the day observing the target. He recognized him from his first failed attempt on Park - his contact was right, he had survived Demetri's attack. How? According to the message his contact had left, the young man was a stock boy at a local supermarket. So far, Demetri hadn't seen anything to suggest otherwise. It explained why he'd been out so late the other night, when he'd interfered with the mission.

The police tailing his target were probably just a protective detail, in case Demetri came back to finish the job. Had the target given them his description? It was possible; nothing he could do now if that were the case. The more pressing concern was keeping that information from rival organizations.

According to his contact, the young man had an in with the very Syndicate Demetri had been hired to whittle down. He knew he could sell the description of Demetri to the Syndicate, and the Syndicate would pay well. From the looks of the young man's apartment and clothes, he could use the cash.

Demetri tailed the target and the cops for a couple more blocks, until the young man reached the grocery store where he presumably worked. He entered the employee entrance on the side of the building: a single door under the dim blue light of a flickering fluorescent bulb. Was he just going to work tonight? Demetri's intel had claimed that the buy was happening tonight, but not here. Change of plans?

Demetri considered, crouched in the shadow of a low brick wall. He ought to slip in and observe, but it would be tricky. A stranger wouldn't go unnoticed in a small store at this time of night. And then there were the police to consider; he couldn't enter the store without them seeing him. He would have to deal with them first.

The car was a few yards from Demetri's hidden position, across the street from the main entrance to the supermarket. The man on foot had positioned himself under a streetlamp and was pretending to smoke while keeping an eye on the side door. Demetri could have laughed at the amateurishness of them both.

Which cop should he take out first? The man in the car was closer.

Suddenly, the street became a smidge darker. Demetri froze - was it the masked contractor? Then he realized that the flickering bulb above the side door had finally given up and winked out. Lucky - he might be able to get inside without the police noticing now, if he was careful. He was running out time, too, if the meet was indeed happening inside the store. Demetri rose slowly from his crouch, eyes on the cops.

A sudden thumping sound caused him to drop back to the ground. The cop in the car was rapping his fist on the car door to get his fellow's attention. The cop on foot jogged up to the car. The two exchanged some words, then the man on the street climbed into the passenger seat. The car sped off.

_Perfect_. Demetri's way was clear. He stood, but before he could cross the street, the side door opened and a man walked out, away from Demetri. Without that fluorescent light, it was hard to tell, but…yes, that was the target. Same height, same build, same messy black hair, same slouchy walk. He was heading towards the warehouse district.

_Ah, you punched in, then snuck off when your boss wasn't looking. No doubt you expect to slip back in the same way. Too bad you won't be coming back._

-V-

"He's inside." Yin's voice sounded absurdly loud in the otherwise silent basement. It had been almost an hour, Kirihara thought, since the doll had last spoken. At least, it felt like an hour. Her arms and shoulders were starting to cramp up, and the cuts on her wrists from her attempts at getting free of the plastic tie were stinging.

She had been hoping that the ex-detective would leave the room for a bathroom break, but he never moved. At one point, he lit up a cigarette; Kirihara was disgusted to think that she was going to have to spend her last hour alive breathing in secondhand smoke.

But Yin had given a tiny cough, and the man had stared at her for a moment before stubbing out the cigarette. Too bad he hadn't decided to go outside for his nicotine fix.

"The target?" The ex-detective asked.

"Watching."

Kirihara was desperate to know what was going on. Who was Yin watching? Who was the target, and who was _he_ watching? It was impossible to understand the dialog between the doll and her handler.

Long minutes stretched by, then Yin said, "He's going to move on the cops."

_Cops?_ Kirihara struggled to keep her mouth shut. Talking would only earn her more threats, maybe worse. She'd learn more by listening. The man seemed to have forgotten she was there.

"Right, time to lose our pretty tail." The man pulled a phone from the pocket of his coat and dialed three digits. When the line connected, the man put on a (terrible) false voice.

"This is Yamaguchi, owner of Yamaguchi Jewelers in Koto. Two armed men have broken in and are holding my wife and daughters hostage. I have to go - please, send help!" He hung up the phone with a snort. "Still shitty reception, but I think they got the message."

Kirihara gaped, forgetting herself. "Did you…just call in a fake hostage situation? Every patrol car in Koto is going to respond to that!"

"You're starting to piss me off," the man warned her. "I'd like to leave you locked in a closet upstairs, but I don't dare take my eyes off you. All the same, you don't shut up and I'll stuff my sock in your mouth. Trust me, you won't like that. Yin?"

She waited a minute or two, then reported. "They're gone. It's clear. Target is still across the street."

Every patrol car in Koto…that would include the detail she'd set to watch over Li. She'd decided to keep them on one more night, to ensure that KV-464 really hadn't been able to identify him. She hoped Li was safe at work.

"Target is taking the bait," Yin said. _Bait for what?_

-V-

Still maintaining a careful distance, Demetri followed the target through the empty rain-soaked streets. The target was more nervous now; perhaps he had been aware of the police all along, and was wishing they hadn't gone.

Or had he done something to send them away? That was likely, Demetri surmised. Knowing the police were keeping an eye on him, the young man wouldn't want them to observe him selling information to a criminal organization. They saw him go into work; perfect alibi.

_This kid is better than I thought,_ Demetri realized. _Better play it safe_.

As he tailed his target, he kept his senses alert for signs of being followed himself. The Black Reaper had surprised him once before, at Park's house. But that was probably coincidence; the Reaper had obviously been after Park himself. Why else take the time to kill him, instead of chasing Demetri?

The target approached a small warehouse, one of many along this deserted street. Soft light filtered through grimy windows. After checking the address against something he pulled from his pocket, he entered. Demetri made no attempt to stop him; his instructions were to take out the target's contact as well. Two birds with one stone.

Demetri slipped into the shadowed doorway of the building next door, watching for signs of other watchers. Nothing...then he spied a blue glow coming from a puddle near the warehouse door. A specter. Watching for the target's arrival and any tail he might have picked up.

He was sure the doll hadn't seen him; the specter remained in the same location, watching that one doorway, not even scanning the area. Poor-quality program; this is why Demetri never liked working with dolls. They were too limited.

Demetri tried the handle of the door behind him. Locked, but the door was old, the wood frame rotting. This place had been abandoned for some time. A few hard shoves, and the door gave way. The contractor paused a moment to let his eyes adjust to the gloom of the warehouse interior. When he located an interior stairwell, he dashed over and climbed, all the way up to the roof.

The fake stars twinkled overhead. Out of sight of the doll, Demetri crossed to the roof of the warehouse next door. The roof was practically one giant pool of rainwater. He crept around the edge, towards the roof door, trying to keep his feet as dry as possible. Wet shoes made too much noise.

The door to the roof was locked. This one was metal. He picked the lock quickly, and crept down downstairs.

The first flight ended at another door. Demetri edged it open; a dark catwalk lay in front of him. Beyond that, the floor of the warehouse lay open below, lit by fluorescent bulbs that were tucked under the catwalk, which he now could see ran the length of the building. Stairs leading down to the ground floor were at the far end. But Demetri wouldn't need to go that far.

Cautiously, he approached the edge of the catwalk, and looked down.

His target was stupidly standing in the brightest part of the large room; he probably felt safer there than in the dark. Humans were such fools.

A male voice sounded from the shadows: "You took your time getting here."

The young man jumped, looking around for the source of the voice. "I had to lose the police," he said. "Where are you?"

_Almost_ , Demetri thought to himself. Quieter than a whisper, he withdrew a gun from the holster at his side, and screwed on the silencer. He didn't know how his target had survived his last attack; this time there would be no mistakes. He lined up a shot at the target's chest, steadying his aim. As soon as the Syndicate contact appeared…

"Over here," the voice said, and out of the shadows stepped… _a cat?_ _What the..?_ Demetri recovered quickly from his surprise. _Just a contractor, kill them both_.

He aimed at the black-haired young man and started to squeeze the trigger, but suddenly a hand clamped down on the back of his head. Before he could react, blinding pain shot through him, and his senses winked out faster than a falling star.


	17. Chapter 17

Kirihara sat tensed at the edge of her seat, listening to Yin report the movements of their target to the ex-detective, Hei, and another person named Mao. She guessed Hei must be a contractor, possibly Mao as well.

If they were replying to Yin or their handler, she couldn't tell; the man had earbuds plugged into his radio, and Yin's mic must have been part of the earpiece she wore. Kirihara hadn't even noticed the earpiece at first; it was the small, very expensive kind. What was this organization that she had stumbled into?

"He's inside," Yin said. Kirihara leaned forward in spite of herself. Not knowing who the players were, she couldn't figure out whose side she was rooting for. Whichever one got her out of this alive, she supposed. "There's not enough water; I can't see anymore."

"Hei's got him in his sight," the man said, more to himself than to Yin, listening intently to his radio.

Kirihara noticed then that Yin's hands, which had been resting lightly on her lap all night, were now clutching the fabric of her skirt, as if she was anxious about something. The doll couldn't see her teammates or their target anymore; was she worried about them? Was that even possible?

"Dead, or alive?" the man rasped suddenly, pressing the talk button on his radio. He listened to the reply, then snorted. "Whaddaya know, you _can_ follow orders when you feel like it. Get your asses back here; we have one more small problem to deal with." He took the earbud from his ear. Yin removed her earpiece as well.

_One more…_ he meant her, Kirihara suddenly realized, her stomach clenching in fear. She hadn't managed to come up with a plan of escape, and she didn't have high hopes that the cavalry would be charging in any time soon to rescue her.

She tried, again, to free her hands from the zip tie that bound them, but with every movement the plastic only cut deeper into her skin. Warm blood dripped down her fingers. She had to bite her lip to keep from crying out in pain.

After what felt like hardly any time at all, though in reality was probably a good fifteen or twenty minutes, Yin spoke up. "Mao."

The man looked at her. "Mao what?"

"Out front."

"Hei isn't with him?"

Yin shook her head.

"Damn him," the man muttered. "Can't we ever have one job where he does what he's told, and nothing else?" He stood and crossed the room to the stairs, pausing at the bottom step to turn a glare on Kirihara. "I'll be back in one minute - don't do anything stupid." He headed upstairs, the musty stench of tobacco wafting after him.

Kirihara's mind raced. This was her chance! She was about to jump to her feet and try for the door, when Yin spoke again, softer than before.

"I'm sorry, Misaki."

Kirihara looked at the doll in surprise. "Yin…?"

The doll turned her head to look in Kirihara's direction for the first time all night. "I tried to warn you to stay away, but I forgot - you can't see specters."

Kirihara could hardly believe what she was hearing. Yin, a doll, was worried about her? "I…Thank you. For trying. But it's my own fault; I thought you were in trouble. I shouldn't have followed."

"You're my friend. So is Hei. He lied about the cop. Ask him why."

Kirihara started to ask her what she was talking about, but the sound of heavy footsteps returning to the stairs stopped her.

And just like that, Kirihara's chance was gone.

"…can't even open a damn door, what use you are?" The ex-detective's voice drifted down the stairs. Kirihara saw him a second later, descending.

"Stop complaining, Huang," said a second male voice. That must be Mao. He sounded like he was on the stairs as well, but Kirihara only saw the ex-detective (Huang?). The second voice continued, "We captured the target - alive, even though the plan was for him to be dead. Why the change?"

Huang had reached the bottom of the staircase. He walked back to his chair and sat. "Something about needing him alive to develop an antidote. You ask me, it's the poison they want. Not our business though, we just have to deliver the freak."

Kirihara only half heard Huang's explanation. The owner of the new voice had emerged from the stairwell. "A cat?" she said aloud in surprise.

The black cat eyeballed her. "Someone give the lady cop a cookie. What's she doing here, Huang? And why is she still breathing?"

"She followed me. Yin never picked her up." Huang turned a look on the doll, who appeared oblivious. "Hei can take care of her."

"Why wait?" The cat asked. "Just kill her now." Kirihara had no idea how to react to a cat wanting her dead.

"Go ahead."

Mao gave him an annoyed glare. "Right, I'll just do that. One tiny puncture wound at a time." He lifted a black paw and extended his claws, then sighed. "It'll be faster to wait for Hei."

"What kind of contractor are you?" Kirihara asked, curious. He had to be a contractor; what was his power? Being a cat? What kind of ability was that?

Mao jumped up onto the table; both he and Huang ignored her question. "Speaking of Hei," Huang said, "where the hell is that bastard?"

"He stayed behind to take care of our new friend Li," the cat said, watching Kirihara out of the corner of his eye. "He'll be here any minute."

"Li?" Kirihara said in sudden fear. _Her_ Li? What were they talking about? Were they working with KV-464? Was _he_ Hei? Huang had said something about needing the target alive to develop an antidote…

Mao looked directly at her this time; there was a wicked glint in his eye. "Don't worry," the cat said. "We just needed a decoy - a look-alike, to distract the target. Hei is wiping his memory; he'll wake up in the morning with a headache and no idea what happened."

A look-alike? Kirihara's mind puzzled. What contractor did Li look like? Then it hit her.

"Oh god…"


	18. Chapter 18

_Quit freaking out, Misaki!_ Kirihara mentally upbraided herself. _You have to focus, look for a way out, a chance to run - anything! Once BK-201 gets here, you're dead!_

How had Li gotten himself mixed up with this? Yin…had she been programmed to get close to him? Had they threatened to hurt her if he didn't cooperate? Damn it, she'd told him to call her if anything happened!

Kirihara concentrated on taking slow, measured breaths. A way out; she needed a way out. Just when her heart rate had started to slow again, Yin spoke. "Hei."

The Black Reaper was upstairs. Kirihara could feel his hand squeezing the air from her throat, cold ceramic pressing against her cheek…she forced the panic back down.

Soft footsteps sounded upstairs, along with louder, clunkier sounds, like someone stumbling across the floor.

The footsteps reached the top of the staircase. A large, dark object was unceremoniously pitched down the stairs; a light-haired man in a black overcoat landed sprawling against the basement wall, hands bound behind his back. _KV-464!_

The contractor on the ground groaned. "Bastard. Was that really necessary?" he said around a broken and bleeding nose.

"No," came the cold and terse reply from atop the stairs.

Kirihara's heart was in her throat. BK-201. She felt an odd mixture of terror and excitement. He was going kill her - but she was here, in his base of operations; she was finally going to get the chance to talk to him face to face.

The Black Reaper descended the stairs on silent feet, wrapped in his black trench coat. A black-gloved hand rested on the banister. Kirihara tried to ignore the itch on her neck at the sight of that hand.

And then his face came into view; she realized with a thrill that he wasn't wearing his mask.

His face… "Oh god," she said quietly, all her terror replaced by a profound sadness. "Li."

It was Li's face, but it wasn't. Every trace of cheerfulness, every hint of a friendly smile, gone, as if it had never existed. It probably hadn't, she realized. Not truly. His beautiful dark eyes, usually so expressive, were cold and empty. A killer's eyes.

It was obvious in hindsight, Kirihara thought. She'd known it all along, in her subconscious – that was what her dreaming brain had been trying to tell her days ago. But she hadn't wanted to believe it, so she hadn't seen it.

She thought she saw his eyes widen slightly in surprise at the sight of her bound on the sofa, but the next instant his face was blank again.

"I take it _she's_ the 'small problem'," Li - no, _Hei_ \- said, in a voice that was as flat as Yin's. But where Yin's voice was soft, Hei's was iron-hard and…not even cold. Lifeless.

"Followed me here," Huang grunted. "Don't know when she picked me up; I caught her skulking out by the car."

Hei bent and grabbed KV-464 by the arm, forcing him roughly to his feet.

"Is he safe to handle?" Huang asked, edging his chair away a little as Hei half-escorted, half-dragged KV-464 to the table, depositing him the empty chair.

"It wouldn't be very rational of me to use my power while my hands are tied," the contractor muttered.

"He used his power trying to kill me when he woke up," Hei said, as if he were describing an annoying mosquito and not a deadly contractor. "One-shot. He's safe until he pays his price."

"Which I _need_ to do!" The contractor was difficult to understand with his nose broken. He had some kind of heavy accent too, Kirihara thought. She couldn't place it though.

"You've got time," Mao told KV-464. "Don't worry, we're keeping you alive. As long as you cooperate."

"I'm cooperating," the man assured them. "Come on, my payment - it'll only take a minute. In my pocket." It was disgusting how quickly contractors flipped sides.

Hei reached into the pocket of KV-464's overcoat and pulled out a bright pink bottle. He tossed it to Huang.

"Bubbles?" The ex-detective scowled. "You creeps just keep getting weirder and weirder." He put the bottle in his own pocket. "You can pay your price later. If I decide you're behaving well enough."

He stood, and shrugged on his coat. "Time to split. We got a delivery to make. Hei, take care of the cop - she's been a pain in my ass for far too long. Then clean up the place, we won't be back."

"The higher-ups want her dead?" BK-201 asked, completely apathetic to the answer.

"I'm sure they don't care either way. Just deal with her. Let's go, Yin." Huang put on his hat and unlocked the back door with a key from his pocket.

Yin stepped out of the tub of water. She slipped on her shoes and picked up Mao - he _oofed_ in surprise, but otherwise didn't protest.

Huang jerked KV-464 to his feet, and Kirihara saw her only chance at getting answers about to slip through her fingers, again.

"Hang on, you can't just take him away like that!" Everyone in the room turned to stare at her. She realized she must look like a complete idiot, making demands in her situation, but she pressed on. "I need to know who he's working for! What were your objectives here? Why choose the targets that you did?"

"Don't answer," Huang growled, giving the bound and bleeding contractor a shove. "A few more minutes, she won't be around to care. Yin, now." He jerked his head towards the door.

Yin, with the cat hanging awkwardly in her arms, exited the basement. As she did, she turned her head slightly to glance blindly toward Kirihara and Hei, but didn't say a word.

Huang frog marched KV-464 through the door behind them.

"Just kill me yourself, you coward!" Kirihara shouted after him. The door slammed shut. It was useless bravado, she knew, but she couldn't stand being treated like she was just an afterthought.

The Black Reaper turned to face her.


	19. Chapter 19

"Could you just do me one favor," Kirihara asked numbly, "and put your mask back on?" She was going to look him in the eye when he killed her - but she couldn't bear the thought of seeing that eye glowing red in the face she'd known as Li's.

He didn't say anything, just looked at her coldly as he removed his gloves. Then he turned and shrugged off his black trench coat, tossing it over the back of a chair. Next he unbuckled his weapons harness, dropping a frightening array of knives to the table with a clatter.

Kirihara watched, fascinated even in the midst of her fear. She'd thought Li was sexy, in a subtle, adorable way - but Hei was something else altogether. He moved like a black jungle cat, the toned muscles of his back and shoulders sliding smoothly beneath his tight black shirt.

He still had a knife strapped to his leg; but instead of unbuckling it, he drew the sharp thin blade. It made no sound as it left its sheath. He was going to cut her throat, she realized with a shiver, remembering Park's lifeless body lying in a pool of blood.

Kirihara wanted to fight, to struggle to the very end, but there was no point; she was helpless, and it galled. So she was going to stare her fate in the eyes. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing how terrified she was. As if the panther cared whether the rabbit was afraid before he snapped her neck in his jaws.

The Black Reaper stood over her where she sat bound on the sofa. He'd left his mask off, damn him. Kirihara took a deep breath to steady her nerves, then met his empty black eyes as he leaned forward, knife in hand. He didn't flinch from her gaze.

And then…he leaned _past_ her, arms reaching around behind her back. Her face was pressed softly into his shoulder; he smelled like metal and sweat. Almost gently, he cut the zip tie that bound her hands.

Kirihara stifled a gasp of pain as her arms came free. Hei took two steps back to a chair, where he sat hunched forward, elbows on his knees. He watched silently as she rolled her shoulders and tried to get some life back into her muscles.

Her hands and wrists were stained red with dried blood, she saw, but the cuts themselves had stopped bleeding.

He rose from the chair and walked over to the sink by the door. She couldn't see what he was doing, but he returned with a damp towel, which he handed to her wordlessly before taking his seat again. The kind gesture somehow felt alien, coming from someone like him.

Kirihara cleaned her hands as best she could. She looked at Hei, who was still staring at her expressionlessly. Except now, she thought he looked…tired.

"I told you to say away from Yin," he said at last.

She was a little taken aback by the rebuke. "I know. And I did - I was. But when I was leaving …your…place, I saw a suspicious-looking man driving away with Yin, and I was worried about her." Why was she trying to justify herself to a contractor? Was he only waiting to kill her until she answered his questions?

"Why?"

"Why? Because she's a sweet girl, who I like to think is my friend! I know _you_ don't feel emotions anymore, but you do remember that other people have them, don't you?"

He ignored the dig. "And now that you know Yin is a doll?"

She didn't understand the question at first, but then she remembered Yin's earlier words, when Huang had stepped out. "I still think of her as my friend," Kirihara said, a touch defiantly.

Hei stared at her for a long moment, considering her answer. Then he said, "I'm going to offer you a deal."

"A deal?" She hadn't thought of that possibility - November 11 had told her how BK-201 had stubbornly refused his offer, despite being trapped. "Ok. We can protect you, if you tell us who-"

"Not with the police," he interrupted sharply, a hint of anger in his voice. "With you."

"With me?"

"Huang wants you taken care of. As far as he knows, you only know what you saw tonight. But if I erase just this night from your memory, you'll still remember Yin. You'll still suspect her of being a doll, and you won't let it go, until we end up right back here."

"Why don't you use ME to just erase Yin from my mind completely?" She didn't really want to forget Yin, and she didn't like the idea of being subjected to ME; but if it kept her alive, she wouldn't argue.

"I can't do that with my ability," Hei explained. His face was still hard and expressionless, but somehow it wasn't as unsettling as before. "We have contacts that can handle that sort of thing, with actual ME technology, but that would compromise Yin. The higher-ups would know how independent she's becoming, and reprogram her. I don't want that."

"Why not?" It seemed to her that Yin would be a liability, the way she was acting out on her own. She hadn't told Huang that Kirihara was following them, after all.

"We're partners." Hei said simply. It was an odd thing for a contractor to say about a doll. _He's different from the others_ , the girl had told her _._

"Do you…care about her?" Kirihara asked in surprise.

Hei flicked his eyes away from hers, and his shoulders hunched a little. For the first time that night, he looked almost human. "Now that she's starting to regain her emotions and her memories…she might have a second chance. A real life. I don't want to take that away from her," he said quietly.

_Does he wish for a second chance too?_ Kirihara wondered. She'd never heard a contractor talk like this before.

"Alright," she said. "I don't want that either. So what's your solution?"

He gave her a steady look. "I don't kill you, or erase your memories. And in return, you forget, on your own, that you ever met Yin. You forget everything you saw and heard tonight. You stay away from Li."

That last hurt; she knew in her head that Li wasn't a real person, but her heart ached a little to be reminded of it. Li was kind, and funny, and selfless…

"I have one question first," Kirihara said. She had a hundred, but she wasn't going to push her luck.

Hei waited.

"When you were hit by KV-464's ability…Officer Asano gave the same story as you. KV-464 really didn't know you were there. You could have just watched him kill Park and Asano, and then taken him out. Why did you risk yourself and step in?"

He didn't answer for a long time, but instead sat staring at the floor near her feet. She started to think he wasn't going to answer at all. Then he raised his eyes to meet hers. "I knew you would be hurt if another officer was killed."

Kirihara stared at him, speechless. He cared about her feelings? Contractors didn't risk themselves for emotional reasons like that, _especially_ not contractors like BK-201. It had to be a lie…but when she looked into his eyes (why had she thought they were black? They were blue, a deep, dark blue), he looked so vulnerable, so human…and she believed him.

"Ok," she said, suddenly decided. "I'll agree to your offer. But what about Huang? What happens when he finds out you didn't kill me?"

Hei gave an offhand shrug, lithe and feline and completely unlike Li. "He told me to deal with you, not kill you. I'll tell him and Mao that I wiped the last few hours from your memory. Huang doesn't know you've met Yin before, and if Mao knows, he won't care, so long as it doesn't threaten him in any way. Keep to your end of the deal: forget Yin, forget 'Li's' connection to BK-201, and you'll be safe."

She couldn't keep the uncertainty from her face. Hei saw her expression, and added quietly, "I owe you for saving my life, remember?"

That eased her mind a little. She found herself smiling for the first time in hours. "Right. But if I run into the Black Reaper on the street, I won't hesitate to shoot."

The corners of Hei's mouth twitched up slightly. "I'd expect nothing less."

"So…what happens next?"

He stood, and looked down at her evenly. "I'm going to have to knock you out."

"What?" At his words, she felt the old fear resurfacing: BK-201 trapping her against his chest, hand around her throat. "Why?"

"Someone's probably looking for you by now," he said, standing over her. "How will you explain your hands? Your broken phone? It has to look real - it's the rational thing to do."

_No, killing me outright instead of trusting me is the rational thing to do_.

Kirihara stood to face him, gazing directly into his dark eyes.

"Can I trust you, Hei?"

His eyes widened slightly in surprise. She realized suddenly that that was the first time she'd called him by that name. And that they were standing bare inches apart; Kirihara felt the heat rising in her cheeks.

Then his eyes softened. "Yes, Misaki."

She didn't know what made her do it - the depth of truth in his eyes, the sound of her name on his lips, perhaps - but without thinking, she leaned forward and kissed him.

At first he didn't react, startled; but then his arms wrapped protectively around her, and he kissed her back with a hunger that caught her completely off guard. Her mouth opened beneath his as he deepened the kiss, sending shivers down her spine. She leaned into his embrace, reaching up to tangle her fingers in his hair.

When they finally broke apart, breathless, she rested her head in the crook of his neck. His skin was warm on her cheek. "Do I have to forget that, too?" she murmured, fingers tracing the outlines of the firm muscles in his back.

He reached up to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear, stroking her cheekbone with his thumb. "Do you want to?" His voice was low and husky; not Li's voice, but not the cold and lifeless voice he'd been using all night either. His own voice.

"No." _Never._

He held her tight against his chest. The heat from his body had burned away all her lingering fear. "Good. Neither do I." He brushed her forehead with his lips. "Keep your eyes closed."

She obeyed, shuddering sweetly as his hand traced up the nape of her neck to cradle her head. As he tenderly took her lips in his own, a blue glow shone against her eyelids, soft and gentle as starlight.

* * *

 

_fin_


End file.
